


Lightning in the Dark

by Rowboating



Category: Under Night In-Birth (Video Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate History, Angst, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Brawler Izuku, But he leaves soon, Canon-Typical Violence, Merkava Lives, Midoriya Izuku Does Not Have One for All Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Midoriya Izuku is Kind of OP, Midoriya Izuku is an In-Birth, OOC Izuku Midoriya, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Toogata Mirio Has One for All Quirk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2019-11-19 08:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 20,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18133133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rowboating/pseuds/Rowboating
Summary: Izuku Midoriya was weak once. But not anymore. The Void saw to that.





	1. Sparks

Izuku wanted power. He wanted to help others. He wanted to be a hero. He wanted to help others, to protect those who could not protect themselves. Izuku wanted to help the people Katsuki bullied. He wanted to stand up for himself. However, he was quirkless. Against Katsuki’s amazing quirk, how could he compare? He already practiced mixed martial arts for years. He had been training since he had found out he was quirkless. It had never helped. 

So, he began to look for ways to gain a quirk or any kind of power. Always online, of course. He had heard whispers in the back corners of the internet, whispers of people with amazing powers, long before quirks. Their powers came from existence itself, called EXS. A boy who could summon a sword from nowhere. A girl who could reincarnate, and her mountainous companion. A girl who could summon and control a massive puppet, and another who could move like the wind, leaving only flower petals in her wake. A clawed man with a monstrous scythe, and a dangerous psychopath who fought with his own blood. All of them in between births, or In-Births for short. 

Izuku also heard of the monsters that caused these powers, called Voids, and the Hollow Night that kept these living nightmares contained. 

Now he was here, on the night of the full moon, ready to sneak out in search of these monsters. He had written his goodbyes, in case he could not return. The full moon would not return for another month after this, and junior high would be starting tomorrow. Izuku did not want to face Katsuki. Izuku slipped out the window, and into the night. 

He came to a public park, with everyone else gone. Izuku sat on the swings, and waited. With his phone as a clock, he waited. Eventually, his phone stopped working. He had succeeded. He had found a Hollow Night. He waited some more, and eventually, he heard a voice. 

~~“Flesh. New flesh. NEW FOOOOOOOOOD.”~~

Izuku looked behind him, and recoiled in horror at the beast rushing at him. Massive jaws, long flowing white hair and glowing eyes. 

Everything went black when the hands finally reached him. 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Why do you continue living?~~

_To become a hero who helps others, like All Might!_

~~All Might is powerful. You are not. You are weak and pathetic.~~

_But I don't have to stay weak and pathetic. I’ll become strong!_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Izuku woke up at the crack of dawn, his head pounding and his arms sore as anything. They felt like they had been torn off, and regrown overnight. He rushed back home, hoping to beat the sun. He felt faster, a little bit stronger, and he made good time. As he ran, felt tingly feelings around him, running alongside him, parallel to the power lines. He managed to sneak back into his room and get a bit of sleep, even through the soreness in his arms and his pounding head. He woke for breakfast, and headed off to his first day at Aldera Junior High. 

Izuku started what he expected to be his daily endeavor to school after his breakfast of toast and milk. He said goodbye to his mother, and began the stealth mission that was avoiding Katsuki and his cronies. He didn’t feel very different, but the headache had faded and the soreness in his arms had disappeared. Izuku just wanted his EXS to appear. He vaguely remembered the Void ripping them off the night before, but he supposed his body had regrown them as he became an In-Birth. That was the cause of the soreness. He also felt tingly feelings, originating from his clock, phone, and the television in the living room. The power lines and buildings also emanated this feeling, and it was almost overwhelming. He felt as if all he had to do was call out to the feeling and it would-

“Deku!”

Shit. Katsuki found him. 

Most of the other bullies tended to leave Izuku alone. To them, he wasn’t worth the trouble. After all, he could put up a half decent fight, even through his quirklessness. Katsuki was a different matter. Not only did he always have a small entourage with him, but he was a cut above the other thugs at Aldera and the surrounding neighborhood. Katsuki was blessed with a powerful quirk and a very impressive mind. Izuku sometimes thought that maybe Katsuki had a part in keeping the other bullies away from him, wanting to be the only one to torment and belittle Izuku. 

They were childhood friends, after all. 

“Stupid Deku! LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU,” Katsuki screamed. 

“Y..y..yes Kacchan,” Deku murmured.

“Now, get on the wall with the rest of those extras,” Katsuki said, pointing to an alley. “I’m going to drill it into your heads, since you can’t understand how pathetic you all are. I’m going to be number one, and you guys won’t even be a low ranker’s sidekick.”

“N..n..no.”

“WHAT-”

“I c-c-can’t stand by and let you h-hurt others. If I can’t st-st-stand up to you here, how will I stand up to a v-villian?”

“Deku. YOU DON'T GET IT! YOU'RE WEAK”

Izuku flinched as Katsuki thrust his hand toward him, explosions crackling. He closed his eyes and raised his arms. Suddenly, he heard a popping noise, and felt a flash of light. Katsuki screamed and recoiled. 

Izuku had shocked Katsuki. 

He looked down at his hands, and saw electrical sparks jumping between his fingers. His EXS was revealed. It was electricity. Izuku smiled with glee. He finally had a power. He wasn’t a useless Deku anymore. He was stronger than he had been before. Right then, Izuku made a decision. He would use the power given to him to protect others, to stand up for those who wouldn’t stand up for themselves. Starting right now. 

Izuku took his stance, a second before Katsuki’s so-called friends jumped him. They tackled him, and Izuku panicked. He shocked them indiscriminately, and they held on. When Izuku stopped, they were out cold. The other kids on the wall had run to school by now, and Izuku was glad. It meant that he didn’t have to worry about shocking bystanders.

Suddenly, Izuku heard a bell ring. Class would be starting soon. Katsuki woke up his buddies, and they started to leg it to school. However, Izuku knew that he would have to pass off his EXS as a quirk, and to do that, he had to get it registered. So instead of following Katsuki, he ran home, hoping his mother hadn’t gone to work yet. 

When Izuku arrived home, panting and out of breath, his mother was on the phone with the school. “Oh wait, no, I have him here. Thank you for calling. I’ll talk to him now,” Inko said, setting the handset down. “Izuku! Why are you here? Why aren't you at school?”

“Mom! Mom! I GOT MY QUIRK!”

End chapter 1


	2. Static

Two years later, Izuku was heading off to school again, but with his head held high this time. He was stronger now, with more confidence. After the initial doctor’s visit to get his “quirk” classified, he had visited a few more times after discovering additional abilities apart from just blasting electricity. Izuku didn’t just store and shoot it, he generated it and had almost complete control over electricity. He could drain the charge of devices like phones and recharge them too. Izuku's control could be affected by the environment however, and in the vicinity of wet or metallic things, it tended to get very difficult. He also typically had to focus on shaping and controlling the electricity, so it wasn't something that was commonly used. He could also sense electrical currents, although he tended to avoid using that part because of the enormous headache it caused him in most urban areas. 

He had named it Electromancy.

Izuku came upon a large crowd, and realized that there was a massive villain towering over the crowd. He muscled his way to the front, and immediately was stopped by a rope of water, formed by the Rescue Specialist Backdraft. Kamui Woods was on the scene, and Izuku was excited. Woods was a rising star in the hero world, and Izuku, ever the nerd, was ecstatic to see him in action. Woods’ Lacquered Chain Prison was interrupted by a massive kick from a new heroine making her debut, who called herself Mount Lady. 

With the villain arrested, Izuku made his way to school. 

The first few weeks were always a pain, since there were bound to be some bullies picking on those they saw as weak. Izuku would help. He always did. He didn’t get in trouble, since Aldera’s administrators saw him as helping to develop a more positive environment, and he was a shoo-in for almost any hero course he applied to anyways. 

Izuku just hated how they lumped Katsuki in with him. Izuku believed the blonde was unfitting to bear the title of hero, because of how violent and prone to anger he was. In turn, Katsuki despised how calm Izuku always seemed to be, and how he always went out of his way to help others. Their beliefs differed, both influenced by too much All Might. Bakugou believed that a hero always wins, and never settles for anything less than the top. That’s why he was so prone to violent outbursts whenever Izuku, or anyone else for that matter, beat him at something. Izuku believed that a hero should always strive to protect others, and help in any way they can. He did lots of community service, both on and off the books, and although he was a model student outside of his fights with Aldera’s more problematic students, there was one thing the greenette lacked.

Friends. 

This was because of two things. Firstly, most people only wanted to be friends with Izuku because he was arguably the strongest kid in school. Secondly, Izuku realized that friends were targets. Nobody at Aldera, aside from Bakugou, was as strong as he was, so he tended to avoid making friends. If they were his friend, they were a way for bullies to hurt him, and since he couldn’t be around them all the time, Izuku found it easier just not to make any. He had been fine before he got his “quirk”, and he should be fine now. Besides, since people had starting only being nice to him once he got his “quirk,” most of them were phonies anyway, he rationalized. 

 

The end of the day bell rang, and it was time for Izuku’s daily after school patrol. He wanted to get acquainted with some of the younger students anyways, to show them that they had nothing to fear from the electrical boy. 

“Now now, it’s only a small price of your daily allowance. Isn’t that an easy price for being safe this year?”

Izuku walked into a very familiar alleyway, and into a very familiar scene. A kid with shaggy black hair and two friends. The trio had a group of kids pushed up against a wall, and Izuku’s hand began to crackle as electricity rolled over his fingers. 

Hearing the sparks, the bullies looked over. 

“So, you’re the hero of Aldera Junior High. You gotta think you’re hot shit, right? A great quirk and hero course bound. You got dreams of being number one? Get rid of ‘em. I’m gonna be the best there ever was,” the shaggy headed boy said. “He doesn’t look all that tough.” “Yeah. Lets get him!” 

And just like that, two of the boys began began to run toward Izuku, and the first boy raised his hand and sent a flurry of paper planes at Izuku. He responded by sending out three bolts of shining lightning, frying the paper and the bullies. Izuku went and got an administrator, and the boys were given a week’s detention as punishment. The students on the wall thanked him profusely, and they hurried on their way home. Izuku continued on his patrol, and eventually, began his walk home. 

As he made his was under a bridge, he heard a rushing, and suddenly felt wet all over. His body was slowed and sluggish, and he felt like he was swimming. He struggled, and then he heard a voice say, “Don’t worry. I’m just hijacking your body. Calm down. It’ll only hurt for about 45 seconds... then it’ll all be over.” Izuku opened his mouth to scream, but was silenced by a muddy appendage being shoved in his mouth. Izuku began to panic, and then proceeded to shock the villain into unconsciousness with his “quirk”. Izuku then heard a loud voice yell “DELAWARE SMASH!” 

The punch from All Might dried Izuku’s clothing and blasted the villain off him. Izuku immediately starting freaking out, as here he was, standing in front of his idol and he had just been saved by him. Well, not truly saved, but more cleaned and dried. 

“A-All Might!?!”

“Do not worry! You are safe now, for I am here!”

“T-Thanks so much All Might! C-Can you sign my notebook?” 

“Of course! Here you are.”

All Might handed Izuku his notebook, his signature across the entire page of the notebook, but not covering any of the vital notes inside.

All Might began to gather the mud into empty soda bottles, and Izuku told him of his dream to become a hero. All Might told him that being a hero was a very honorable task, and that Izuku was to become great one day, if his quirk was powerful enough to knock a villain unconscious through blind panic. The pair parted ways, and Izuku returned home, eager to plan his next anonymous community service project (cleaning a veritable trash dump of a beach) and tell his mother of his encounter with the number one hero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next week for the entrance exam! Also, as you can all see in the tags, Izuku won't be getting One For All. Leave guesses in the comments for who you think will be getting it in Izuku's place. Thanks for reading!


	3. Voltage Check!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the entrance exam!

Inko Midoryia was a very proud parent. She always had been proud of her son for not only doing well in school, but holding on to his pipe dream of becoming a hero. But secretly, she hated that dream. Hero work was dangerous, and without a quirk, Izuku was way behind other kids. When his quirk manifested two years ago, she was so happy. His dream was now within reach, and that scared Inko. She didn’t want to have to bury her son. So she decided to always support him, and do as much as she could for him. That’s why, when she sent Izuku off to the entrance exam with a smile on his face, a bag packed with extra snacks, and a full belly, she smiled. She had done all she could up to that moment. To her, that was all that mattered. 

Izuku made it to the train just in time, and on the way, he realized that Katsuki would probably also be there. Izuku resolved to avoid the walking explosive charge, and then proceeded to walk right past him at the UA gate. 

He mentally freaked out a little, because no matter how much they fought, Izuku was always a little afraid of Katsuki. His quirk was brutal, and his fighting style even more so. In response to his fear, Izuku wore a grin on his face. It always reassured the people who he was protecting that he would be ok, and it hid how he really felt. Even when the school buildings shook with lightning and explosions, Izuku kept a smile on his face. It was a habit that was inspired by All Might, and it prompted Katsuki to call him a half baked, shitty copy.

In his musings, Izuku nearly tripped, but as he threw out his hands to catch himself, he felt a light touch, then he went weightless. He instantly let a light electrical charge flow over his body, another habit from his schoolyard fights at Aldera.

As it turns out, Izuku had nothing to fear, and after Izuku exchanged names with the pretty brunette (hers was Ochako Uraraka), a bit of information about their quirks (Zero Gravity and Electromancy), and wishing each other good luck, they parted ways for the written exam.

“She was nice,” Izuku thought out loud. “I hope she makes it in.”

After the practical exam that Izuku managed to pass with relative ease, he followed the crowd and shuffled into the massive auditorium. Present Mic was giving the presentation, and Izuku was freaking out just a little bit. Mic was talking about how the entrance exam would be based around fighting robots, and Izuku smiled a bit. Against robots, he wouldn’t have to worry about overdoing the voltage from his quirk. 

“Excuse me! I have noticed that there are four robots on screen, yet you sir, have only covered three! I am sure such a prestigious academy academy would not make such an error,” a boy with dark blue hair shouted. 

“You mean the Zero Pointer! Don’t trip too hard about that one, it’s just an arena hazard,” the pro responded coolly. 

“Thank you very much! I apologize for my interruption!” The boy bowed deeply. Then he turned to Izuku. “And you! Stop distracting us with your incessant mutterings! Such behavior is reprehensible!” The boy sat down, and Izuku blushed red as the people around him snickered. 

As the crowd exited the auditorium to go to their respective battlegrounds, Izuku saw Ochako again. He thought that they should team up, and began to approach. The blue haired boy from the auditorium stopped him however, and began to ask what he was doing. Izuku was stuttering out half baked excuses and trying to avoid the taller boy’s piercing stare when he, and everyone else, heard a massive “GO” from Present Mic. 

The crowd stood stock still, for just a second or two, and in that time Izuku activated his electrosense and felt a familiar pounding behind his eyes. He noticed that the blue haired boy had a large congregation of electrical energy in his legs, in addition to his head and chest like most people. Izuku figured he had some sort of mutation quirk. Then, he blasted ahead of the pack with what Izuku realized now were engines. Izuku started running, and he had managed to reach the middle of the crowd when he felt a large amount of electrical energy behind a building and broke off from the crowd. A few people followed him, but Izuku was not only faster, but simply drained the five robots of electricity once he got close enough. He ran past the silent one pointers, hearing disappointed groans. He had 5 points on the board. Izuku kept running, sensing and draining electricity, often finding hidden robots or ones that had been passed over, allowing him to eventually get to a solid score of 31 points

Then he felt the ground began to shake, and felt the people running away from a robot that was larger than the mock buildings. Then the mild pain behind the eyes exploded into a colossal migraine, and Izuku just managed to keep from passing out before he deactivated his electrosense. The pain was fading, but not fast enough. He heard a girl yelling for help, rounded a corner, and saw the zero pointer walking toward her, slowly but surely. It was Ochako, and she had been pinned under a pile of rubble, wiping vomit from her face. Izuku ran in the opposite direction of everyone else, toward the giant robot, even though every bone in his body screamed at him to run. He would not let someone get hurt, not even let someone get close to being hurt, especially not while he could still move.

He began to struggle with the rocks, and Ochako cried out in pain, which made Izuku realize that his only choice was to defeat the zero pointer. Izuku called on the tingling beneath his skin, and with a fair amount of visible effort, managed to shape it into a thunderbolt and throw it at the machine. It flew through the air, propelled by Izuku’s In-Birth strength and kept together by some more concentration on Izuku’s end. It landed a critical hit on what Izuku thought was the face of the robot, overcharging it and blowing it to smithereens. 

Izuku collapsed, all the adrenaline leaving his body. He had nothing left to give. He was relatively uninjured, but he was tired from draining the robots and from forming the biggest thunderbolt he had ever made. Ochako looked over, and he could hear her saying thanks before slipping into a dreamless sleep. 

Izuku woke up in an infirmary, and was immediately chided by an old lady in a nurse’s uniform that Izuku managed to identify as Recovery Girl. She told him he had a mild case of overexertion, and sent him on his way. 

Izuku didn’t know if he passed. By his count, he had only gotten 31 points and that seemed very small to him. 

About a week later, Izuku got a letter in the mail with UA’s wax seal on it. He excitedly told his mother and they ran into the living room to read it together. 

Izuku opened the letter and pulled out a small, black device. He placed it down on the coffee table and it began to play a message. His mother was shaking in anticipation. Then, they saw All Might appear. He told them of his new teaching post at UA, and that sent Izuku into fanboyish squeals. But then someone off screen (Izuku thought it sounded a bit like Present Mic, but he couldn’t be sure) told All Might to hurry it up. So, All Might spoke about his combat points. How 31 was a very respectable score, but not enough to get into UA. Izuku and Inko looked close to crying, but then All Might mentioned rescue points and how Izuku’s attempt to free Ochako Uraraka of the rubble and defeat of the zero pointer had managed to net him 60 of these rescue points. This meant that not only had Izuku managed to pass the practical, but he had managed to place first out of all the participants. 

Izuku and Inko began to cry profusely, hugging each other and shouting that Izuku had did it. His childhood dream had been realized. 

This was his hero academia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up is the Physical Examinations! And the holder of One for All is revealed!


	4. A Wake Up Shock!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> UA proper! The holder of One For All Revealed! My first attempt at actual dialogue!

Inko was very, very afraid. Her son was going to hero school, and even though she was happy for him, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. As her son began his walk to the train in his new uniform, she shuddered, and hoped All Might would be able to protect her baby boy. 

Izuku made it to UA, and he began to explore the massive facility looking for his classroom, Class 1-A. He found himself in front of a massive doorway, probably to help people like All Might enter the room. Izuku could tell it was probably his classroom, because of the fact that it was labelled Class 1-A, and the small, familiar popping noises he heard from inside. 

Izuku pushed open the door, and immediately regretted it. He saw Katsuki and the blue haired boy from the exam arguing over Katsuki’s seating posture, and suddenly, the room quieted. Izuku heard a pink skinned girl whisper to a bulky redhead that she thought he would be a bit more heroic looking, since he took first place in the exam and all. The blue haired boy began to profusely apologize, speaking too quickly for Izuku to follow, although Izuku did manage to catch some things about being misjudged. Katsuki, ever the tactful one, cut off the taller boy by screaming “YOU FUCKING DEKU! YOU KNOW HOW HARD I’VE WORKED TO GET TO NUMBER ONE AND YOU FUCKING DARE TAKE TOP SPOT IN THE ENTRANCE EXAM? FUCK YOU YOU LITTLE MMPH!

The shouting stopped when a man who looked like he was finishing metamorphosis wrapped Katsuki’s mouth in what looked like dirty bandages. 

“You woke me up. As punishment, sit down and be quiet until class starts. Anyone who disobeys is getting expelled.” 

There was a shuffling as everyone quietly moved to their seats, and Izuku was glad. He had begun to get a headache from all the noise, and now that everyone was quietly sitting down, he could observe them and begin his favorite hobby, which was of course quirk analysis. As new students came in, Izuku noted obvious physical mutations, such as the bird headed boy and the invisible person that Izuku assumed was a girl because she was wearing a skirt. 

Eventually, the bell rang, and the caterpillar man introduced himself as Mr. Aizawa. Then, he told the class that they had 15 minutes get their PE uniforms on and meet him outside for a physical examination.

As the class began to run to their respective locker rooms to change, the blue haired boy introduced himself to Izuku as Tenya Iida, from Soumei Private Academy. Izuku shared his name as well, and Tenya looked confused. “Isn’t your name Deku?” he asked, referring to Katsuki’s cruel nickname. “No. It’s not. Please don’t ever call me that,” Izuku responded, his face hardening. Tenya, to Izuku’s surprise, said, “Alright Midoriya.” The pair continued to speak on the way to the locker room, and Izuku decided he rather liked the boy, and that it was a shame that Izuku had already decided he didn’t want to make friends at his new school, for he was still afraid of people only liking him for his quirk, and more importantly, that he wouldn’t be able to protect them. Eventually, the pair reached the locker room and began to change. As Izuku was pulling his shirt off, a loud redhead noticed the scars on his back.

“Woah dude! Those scars are super manly! How’d you get ‘em?”

Izuku began to stutter, but fortunately Tenya spoke up for him. “Kirishima! That is very unbecoming of a UA student to call attention to something a person may not be comfortable sharing!” Izuku, slightly nervous by all the attention, told Tenya that it was alright, but Izuku only wanted to share a few. Izuku pointed at a longer line across his back, and said “This one’s from a wire quirk I took the wrong way. Shocked him back though.” Then he pointed at jagged claw marks running across his shoulder. “This one’s from some kind of mammal mutant.” Finally, Izuku pointed at a starburst pattern across his left ribs. “This one? This is from an explosion.” Izuku pulled on his shirt and jacket, then spoke again. “The one thing they all have in common is that I got them protecting others at my old middle school from those who would hurt them.” That last part seemed directed at Katsuki. Izuku walked out of the room, calling the others to follow him out to the field. To everyone in the room, he seemed colder, and more distant. 

As they made it out to the field, they saw Mr. Aizawa standing in a circle, and their female classmates also making their way to the circle. 

“Alright. Everyone here is going to perform a physical assessment. And you’ll be allowed to use your quirks. I want to know what you can really do.”

“We can use our quirks? Awesome!” the pink girl exclaimed.

Mr. Aizawa looked at her with venom in his eyes. “Do you think this is going to be fun? When you’re a hero, people will rely on you. You will have to make life or death decision, not just for yourself, but for others. If you’re here for fun, leave now. In fact, just for that, the person who places lowest will be expelled.”

A chill fell over the class, and everyone was glaring daggers at the pinkette. 

Mr. Aizawa broke this by calling Izuku Midoriya into the circle, which the class now realized was for a softball throw. “You can do whatever you want. As long as you stay inside the circle.” he pointed at Izuku. “You finished the entrance exam with the highest score. Show the class what you can do.” Izuku nervously stepped up to the circle, and accepted a softball from Mr. Aizawa. Izuku walked up, and threw the softball. When Mr. Aizawa held up his counter, which read 73.8 meters, with 242 feet written in smaller type below it. Class 1-A gaped at the almost superhuman score, seemingly done without the help of any quirk. Aizawa simply sent him back to the crowd, and so the tests began. 

Aizawa disapproved of Izuku Midoriya. Mostly because he could not read the young boy. Initially, Aizawa thought that the boy would be, simply put, an arrogant prick. But the boy was soft spoken, polite, and had caused no real issues. However, his fellow Aldera Junior High alum, Katsuki Bakugo, was everything Aizawa thought he would be. Midoriya, however, was an oddball. He did not understand why a boy so powerful wasn’t using his abilities. Then, Aizawa came to a logical conclusion. It wasn’t that he thought he was better than everyone as Aizawa initially suspected, but rather, his power simply was not suited to physical examinations. You wouldn’t know it by looking at him, but Izuku was very muscular under his nondescript gym uniform, and this was made apparent by his excellent scores in every event. 

Izuku was nervous. His quirk was wholly unsuited to events. It couldn’t enhance his speed, strength, or stamina. In time, however, he realized that he shouldn’t have worried. He was in top physical shape, actually, the best he ever had ever been. The extra training in the past few months had been paying off. He wasn’t at the top in every event, not even close. However, he managed to place on the upper end of the median every time, always losing out to people with more specialized quirks, and curiously, a black haired girl who seemed to have a gadget for every event. How she got them was beyond Izuku, but he figured it was due to her quirk and paid it no mind. 

Eventually, the assessment came to an end, and the scores were put up on a screen for everyone to view. Mr. Aizawa told them that it was lunchtime, and to get showered and ready to get to class after. Naturally, everyone stood around the scoreboard, searching for their name. This was very easy, as their names were accompanied by their middle school portrait. Izuku saw that he had placed 7th, and Katsuki had placed 3rd. Seeing this, Izuku blanched, and immediately began to power walk away. Izuku could hear the familiar sounds of explosions as he made it to the relative safety of the locker room.

After a delicious lunch prepared by the hero Lunch Rush, Izuku made his was to Class 1-A. He quietly sat down, and was immediately beset by a certain peppy brunette, Ochako Uraraka. 

“Hello Deku!” she exclaimed. Izuku winced, and Ochako noticed. 

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No, it’s just that I don’t like to be called that. Please, call me Midoriya, or even Izuku if you really want, but not Deku.”

“Why do you let Katsuki call you Deku? Is it an insult?”

“Yeah. We used to be friends, when we were very young. He used to bully me, but when i got my quirk, I could stand up to him. It’s just an insult now, but I still don’t like it.”

“Oh. But it’s alright if I call you Izuku?”

“Yeah. Katsuki already perverted it with his nickname for me, so I can’t say I’m a massive fan of my name anymore.”

“Ok then! I’ll call you Izuku, but you have to call me Ochako!”

“Thanks, Urara- I mean Ochako.”

Then, the bell rang, and a voice spoke up that the class now recognizes as Mr. Aizawa.

“For now, we’ll have study hall until the end of class. I’m taking a nap. Don’t wake me up unless someone’s dead, dying, or on fire.” With that, Aizawa passed out and faint snoring could be heard. 

Izuku decided to take a nap as well, and was awoken by the bell. He went home, got changed, and walked to the nearby trash dump to begin his community service. It had been slow going these past few months, with his schedule so full of training and studying, but Izuku thought he was making good progress.

When he arrived at the nearby Dagobah beach, Izuku heard clanging and grunting. He knew that people didn’t normally visit the beach unless they had some illicit business to take care of. Izuku reached out with his electrosense, and sensed two people, one person having a rather grievous injury on his left side sitting on a refrigerator, and another, more muscular person pushing the fridge with the first person on top. Izuku rounded the corner, and prepared to fight if he really had to. When the unlikely pair saw him, they immediately asked Izuku what he was doing at Dagobah Beach. “I just wanna do some community service, and Dagobah is pretty nasty,” he responded. Immediately, the pair brightened. The blonde teenager pushing the fridge walked over and introduced himself as Mirio Togata, and the man on the fridge as Mr. Yagi. Izuku responded in kind, and then asked if they were cleaning the beach.

Mirio and Mr. Yagi responded that they were, indeed, cleaning the hoarder’s dream that was Dagobah Beach. More accurately, Mirio was cleaning it and Mr. Yagi was watching. Izuku asked the pair why they were cleaning it, and it was now Mr. Yagi’s turn to speak up. “Well, young Togata is a third year at UA. Since I work with heroes, I thought i would take the opportunity to teach him about the most important part of heroics. Community service.” Izuku perked up. He had never encountered anyone who shared his zeal for community service. “Can I help? I’m a student at UA too!”   
Mr. Yagi laughed. “Of course my boy! How could anyone deny you the right to help your community?” Izuku grinned, and the trio began to clean Dagobah Beach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week! The Battle Trial Arc!


	5. Powering Up!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the late update, my weekend was really busy. There'll be a double upload next week as both a celebration for hitting 1k and as an apology for my lateness.

Izuku woke for school the next day, checked his schedule, then became more excited than usual. The reason was because today was his first day of Foundational Hero Studies with All Might! The green haired teen grabbed his breakfast, then jettisoned off to the train station to get to UA. 

After the slog that was the standard morning classes, Izuku had made it to lunch. He wasn’t exactly close with anyone, so he decided to sit under the stairwell and enjoy his sandwich he had packed from home. Soon, however, he was joined by a bird headed boy who he recognized as a part of his class. The pair finished their lunches in silence, then began the walk back to their classroom once the lunch bell rang. 

When everyone was situated in their seats, All Might burst through the door, yelling ”I AM WALKING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!”

Instantly, everyone started freaking out, Izuku included. Then, All Might told them all to get dressed in their hero costumes and to meet him in Ground Beta. 

Izuku made his way to the locker room, and upon arrival, took a second to look around at all the different ways that the costumes were stored. There were mostly briefcases, but a few had capes on coat hangers, and there was even a suit of armor that looked a lot like Ingenium’s costume. Izuku thought it must be Tenya’s, as his is the only quirk that is even reminiscent of Ingenium. He found his gym locker, and found a large briefcase waiting for him. He opened it up and began to get dressed. Firstly, were the pants. They were a pair of dark grey, almost black jean with two long pockets on the side. Then, came the black tank top and the sleeveless charcoal grey trench coat with an almost fearsome image of Raijin, the lightning god, beating his drums on the back. For his last article of clothing, he wrapped a soft scarf loosely around his neck. All of the fabric was woven with thin steel to help boost their conductivity. As for gadgets, he had a utility belt, stocked with the non-addictive painkiller Ibuprofen to help counteract his headaches, and a roll of medical bandages. Everything had its own plastic lined rubber container. When he finished clipping the containers on his belt, he held up his final pieces of kit. Two steel tonfa, a bit longer than Izuku’s forearm, slipped into the long pockets on his pants. 

As Izuku walked out, Kirishima spoke. 

“Midoriya, are you trying to intimidate the villains with that jacket?”

“Well, a little bit. But this scarf and these bandages? They’re for supporting civilians. I don’t care how many villians I beat. I just want to help others.”

And with that, Izuku walked out of the locker room and began the walk to Ground Beta. 

When everyone had arrived, Izuku took a second to look over everyone. Their costumes seemed to focus on fashion, especially Yuga’’s, but he supposed he couldn’t judge too harshly. Others, like Tenya and Mashirao’s, were brutally functional and effective. 

All Might pulled out a small box, and told everyone to draw a slip of paper from it. Izuku drew a slip with an “A” on it. All Might then turned a giant monitor, and detailed the exercise. 

“The slips you each have draw all have a letter on them. Your current task is to find the other student with the matching letter.”

Izuku was happy to that his partner was Ochako. She was nice enough, he supposed, and her quirk was pretty cool. 

“Alright, now that everyone has their partner, I shall expand on the exercise. You are divided into teams, and you will each face another team of two people. One team will be the villains, holding onto a nuclear bomb inside one of these buildings. They win if the heroes fail to capture the bomb, or both of the villains. The other will be the hero team, attempting to capture the villains or the bomb. They win if they catch both villains or grab the bomb. Any questions?”

A girl with a large black ponytail and a rather revealing costume raised her hand. Izuku recognized her as the winner of the quirk apprehension test. “Why are we doing this exercise inside of buildings? Don’t most fights take place outside?”

“That is actually incorrect, Young Yaoyorozu. Most hero fights take place inside, and as such, you all must learn to fight indoors and minimize damage to buildings!”

With that, the matchups were shown on the board. 

Izuku and Ochako saw that their team, Team A, would be facing Katsuki and Tenya’s Team D. As the pair made their way to the battleground, Izuku laid out his plan. 

“Uraraka, Bakugoo is going to come for me. I can hold him off, maybe beat him, but you’ll probably have to get to the bomb yourself.” 

“Midoriya, are you sure? I could help you fight-”

“No. He is too strong for you to have any chance. Plus, he can maneuver in the air using his explosions. When we get into the building, I’ll use my quirk to look for people standing still. Your job is to get to the bomb. Do not engage Bakugo, I will keep him busy. You need to beat Iida and win us the exercise. I’ll lure Bakugo into the lower levels, and try to slow him down long enough that we can double team Iida.”

Ochako nodded, and the pair walked into the building. 

Tenya sighed. His partner, a hot-headed blonde with an explosive quirk, had just blasted off, saying something about “blowing that damn battery into smithereens.” So Tenya decided to guard the bomb, in case the hero team managed to sneak past his partner. 

As Izuku and Ochako slipped into the back door of the building, he began to reach out using his electrosense. Izuku saw a boy with a large amount of electricity around his calves. That must be Iida, he thought. Then, he saw a second boy blasting through the third floor. The greenette relayed the information to his partner, and the pair began to ascend the stairwell. 

Katsuki shot through the hallways, yelling and shouting for Izuku to come and get him. With all the noise he was making, the villainous boy almost didn’t hear the stairwell door slam shut. Katsuki blasted his way to the hallway, only to find Izuku in his admittedly pretty cool hero costume standing in front of the doorway with a grim smile strung across his face. 

Katsuki immediately shot down the narrow hallway, a vicious grin spreading across his visage. Lit up by his explosions, he looked almost demonic. In response, Izuku raised his arm and launched a low voltage blast of electricity. Although Katsuki was unable to dodge the lightning, it simply knocked him to the ground instead of throwing him across the room. The bolt of electricity fried the boys’ communications devices. In response, Katsuki gritted his teeth, and launched himself at Izuku again. Seeing Izuku raise his hands and expose his stomach, Katsuki aimed his right hook directly at Izuku stomach, only for it to be tanked, grabbed, and shocked by Izuku, who then proceeded to break Katsuki’s nose with a knee to the face. This caused Katsuki to break loose of Izuku’s grip on his gauntlet and get some breathing room. Katsuki grimaced, but Izuku gave him no quarter, launching a side kick into the taller boy’s midsection, creating an even wider space between the pair. Katsuki launched a third attack, and this time, when Izuku attempted to use a brutal axe kick to attempt to slam Katsuki’s head into the ground and knock him out, Katsuki used an explosion to dodge to the left, and then proceeded to leap off the wall and slam his knee into Izuku’s exposed ribcage. 

Izuku, left wheezing from Katsuki’s attack, decided to instead electrify his punches and kicks. When Katsuki came at him a fourth time, Izuku used a classic roundhouse kick to counter, but was again foiled by Katsuki’s prediction of the move and took an explosion to the face for it. Izuku blasted a bit of electricity, and Katsuki found himself unable to dodge the shocks. He fell to the floor. Izuku jumped on him, delivering a clean elbow strike to the forehead and opening a gash over Katsuki’s left eye. The boy on the bottom instantly countered with explosions to Izuku’s ribcage, and the electricity user immediately dismounted. However, when Katsuki got to his feet, Izuku took advantage of the bleeding gash and launched a simple combination (albeit electrified) of a left jab, a right straight, a left hook, and a right uppercut. Katsuki never saw it coming, and when Izuku’s fists returned to his side, Katsuki had been successfully knocked unconscious. Izuku reached out with his electrosense, found Ochako hiding from Iida two floors up, and reaffirmed Katsuki was simply unconscious. 

With that, Izuku began to run to the stairwell, but failed to notice Katsuki beginning to stir as he made his way to help his partner. 

Ochako was stuck. She had managed to sneak her way into the room, with all the objects she could use her quirk on to air her against Iida piled up under the bomb. Fortunately, the engine enhanced boy was too wrapped up in his villain monologue to notice her. The most pressing issues were how she was going to get to the bomb, and how to keep from cracking up from Tenya’s cheesy speech. 

Suddenly the stairwell door opened, and Izuku, battered and tired, walked in. Instantly, Tenya was sprinting toward the greenette, who countered by draining Tenya of his engine’s electricity. He dropped like a sack of meat, sailed past Izuku, and the floor exploded. 

A green and black missle shot out of the massive hole in the floor, and landed at the edge. It was Katsuki, nursing a throbbing headache and a gushing gash in his forehead, ready for round two. 

Ochako ran to Izuku’s position, helping to prop him up. The last electrical manipulation had taken a lot out of him, and he was beginning to sway on his feet. 

Katsuki either didn’t see, or didn’t care. The blond held up his left hand, and pulled a pin. 

Then Ochako’s world went white as Izuku pulled the pair down, with himself on top. 

When the ringing in her ears began to fade, and her sight began to return, she saw Izuku’s face with a pained smile. 

“Get to the bomb. I’ll deal with Bakugo.” 

“You’re too hurt, let me help.”

“No. Get to the bomb. Win the exercise for me. I’ve still got a little bit left.”

The pair hauled themselves up, and Izuku drew his tonfa, holding them by the side handle and taking a boxing stance. He stumbled forward, and Katsuki grinned a monstrous grin.   
“Just keel over and die Deku. It’s all you’re good for anyways.”

“Not dead yet.”

With that, Katsuki laughed, flew at Izuku, and their battle began. 

Ochako had snuck around the side, taking cover behind a pillar. Said pillar was then blasted to smithereens by Katsuki’s palm, which had been redirected into it by Izuku’s tonfa. Ochako hastily began a no holds barred sprint to the bomb, and when Katsuki tried to follow, Izuku jammed his tonfa into Katsuki’s ribs and delivered a slight electrical shock, giving Ochako just enough time to brush her fingertips against the massive bomb. 

Immediately, All Might’s boisterous voice rang out. “HERO TEAM WINS!”

Ochako turned to her partner just in time to see him faint to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first cliffhanger! Next week, the fallout of Katsuki's actions


	6. Powering Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fallout of the Battle Trial.

Izuku woke up in UA’s medical facility, with what he thought to be an angel, framed by a cute brown halo. Then, his vision began to clear and he realized that while the face looking over him was not an angel, it was the closest earthly equivalent he knew. It was Ochako Uraraka, who had come to visit him after classes had let out for the day. 

The brunette began to shout for Recover Girl, and Izuku winced, as his ears were still ringing from those explosions. Ochako instantly apologized, and Recovery Girl bustled into the room. 

“Well Mr. Midoriya, you have minor temporary hearing loss, along with several burns from those explosions, and a major case of exhaustion, which is why you slept for a day and a half. You are not to participate in any strenuous activities until I give you the clear to do so. Are there any questions?

“Did I really sleep for a whole day? What’s happened in class since then?” he asked. Then turning to Ochako, he said, “Can I borrow your notes?”

She nodded, and Recovery Girl explained a bit of her quirk to him. 

“Yes, you have slept for a full day. This is because my quirk managed to heal most of the damage to your body, but once you had recovered enough strength for me to safely use my quirk, you immediately fell back asleep.” She motioned to Uraraka. “As for what’s happened in class, I’ll let Uraraka explain what’s happened since then, as I have to call Mr. Aizawa and do some paperwork.”

The elderly nurse then walked back into her office, and Izuku and Ochako could hear the ringing of a phone and the scratching of a pencil writing on paper. 

“Well, two big things happened. The first, and most serious, is that someone breached the UA barrier.”

Izuku furrowed his brow. He had heard of the UA barrier, and he knew how difficult it was to get past it. 

“Do they know who did it?”

“No. We figure it was just a member of the media who went too far to try to get a scoop. But, the second thing is that we had to elect a class representative. Iida wanted to do it democratically, and you were elected representative, with Yaoyorozu as vice representative.”

“What? Why was I elected class representative? Who voted for me?”

“Well, I voted for you, to start. You made a really strong plan during the battle trial, and you didn’t hesitate when it really came down to it. I think that if you’re anything like that outside the exercise, you’ll do really well as class rep.”

“Thank you, Uraraka. What have I missed in class?” 

“Well, Bakugo is currently suspended, and could be expelled. Apparently, his explosive attack against us is considered assault, and since it was complete overkill and inappropriate for the exercise, he’s not at school right now.”

“Is there going to be a trial? What determines if he gets expelled?”

“You are, Izuku. If you don’t want him at UA, or even want charges pressed against him, the school will go ahead and do so. But at the very least, even if he stays, he’s probably going to be on thin ice. Mr. Aizawa should be along soon. I’m going to get home, I have to run some errands and do some homework. Here are the class notes I took for you, along with some worksheets. I’ll see you tomorrow, Midoriya!”

“Wait, Uraraka!”

She turned. “Yes, Midoriya?”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it! Bye!” With that, the gravity manipulator turned and left the room, a slight blush upon her face that Izuku didn’t see. 

Exhausted, Izuku rose, used the bathroom, and crawled back into the medical bed to take a nap. 

About an hour later, Mr. Aizawa came in and decided to ask Recovery Girl to wake Midoriya. 

Izuku, still sleepy from his trip to dreamland, awoke to a dirty, tired, greasy haired man he recognized as Mr. Aizawa standing in the corner, with Recovery Girl berating him for trying to get a boy with several injuries to wake up from a nap. 

“Mr. Aizawa, Recovery Girl. It’s alright. Mr. Aizawa, what do you need from me?”

“Midoriya, I’m sorry to wake you, but I needed to hear your side of the story. What prompted Bakugo’s attack on you?”

“Well, I think it was the fact that I had beaten him earlier. He’s never liked coming in anything other than first place, and his victory always has to be by a large margin.” 

Aizawa’s eyes narrowed, and he spoke again, but with an edge to his voice. 

“I see. Why is that?”

“I’m not sure. I think he’s always been that way.”

“Thank you, Midoriya. In more cheerful news, you have a visitor,” the man spoke, opening the door. 

A short, green-haired, teary eyes Inko Midoriya ran into the room and would have tackled Izuku if not for the fact that the boy was lying on an infirmary bed. 

“Izuku! I was so worried please don’t ever scare me like that again!”

Izuku put a reaffirming arm on his mother’s back.

“It’s ok Mom. I’m gonna be ok, and UA is gonna work with us and the Bakugos to help make sure that this doesn’t happen again. 

Inko glared daggers across the room and Aizawa and Recovery Girl.

Aizawa spoke up. “Indeed we are, and to do so, I need to ask you a few questions when you can spare a few minutes”

“Right now is alright, Mr. Aizawa.”

“What is your relationship with the Bakugos?”

“Well, Mitsuki and I are old friends, and I’m actually the one who introduced her to her husband, Masaru. Unfortunately, Katsuki is less than kind to others. He tends to looks down on those he considers weaker than him, and that included my son, Izuku. That’s how my son’s quirk was initially activated, you see. Katsuki and his friends were picking on some students, and Izuku stood up to him. Then, Izuku’s quirk manifested, and they’re been at each other’s throats ever since.”

“But Izuku is now someone who is arguably stronger, or at the very least on par with Katsuki Bakugo now. Why does this animosity continue?”

“I don’t really know.”

At this, Izuku chimed in. 

“It’s because we have different views on heroes. I believe that a hero should help everyone he can, and Bakugo believes that a hero should always win no matter what, and like you said, he sees most people as losers who are beneath him that don’t deserve help.”

“This troubles me. I’ll leave this paper here. It details the possible punishments UA is considering, including pressing criminal charges. UA takes these things seriously, and any input you two have will be appreciated. I’ll leave you two for now.”

Aizawa left the room, and Recovery Girl discharged Izuku for the night, but gave him a bottle of aloe and some bandages to help him heal his burns. 

As Izuku and Inko made their way home, the older Midoriya spoke up.

“I think Bakugo should be expelled.”

The silence that fell over the pair was almost chilling. Izuku knew that if Katsuki found out that Izuku was the one who ruined his dream of becoming a hero at UA, he would be, for lack of a better term, in deep shit. However, the one he was really scared for was his mother. He couldn’t protect her all the time, and Izuku knew that Bakugo would only need one opportunity to seriously injure, or god forbid kill his mother. So Izuku spoke up. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not Izuku?”

“Because I don’t believe Bakugo is a bad person. Does he have a twisted view on heroics? I think so. Is he trigger happy? Definitely. Is he inherently a bad person? I don’t think so.”

“Ok Izuku. You were the one wronged here, and I have faith in you to make what you feel is the right decision.”

“Thanks Mom.”

The next day after replacing his old bandages and packing lunch, Izuku left to go to school. When he arrived, he ran into a certain redheaded boy at the front gate. 

“Hey Midoriya!”

Izuku mentally braced himself. To him, Eijirou Kirishima was nice enough, if a bit abrasive. 

“I just wanted to say how manly it was for you to protect Uraraka like that, and to wish you well.”

“Thanks, Kirishima. Yeah, it really hurt. I’m just glad I’m not too behind on my schoolwork.”

The pair made their way to class, and Izuku noticed a note on his desk waiting for him. He opened it up, and it said to hed to the principal’s office at lunch. Izuku presumed that it must be for his input on Bakugo’s punishment, and then homeroom began. 

After the typical high school slog of early morning classes (albeit with a lot of “Are you okay’s” and sympathetic looks), lunch came. Izuku made his way to the principal’s office, and found Principal Nezu sitting there, sipping on tea and biscuits. After Izuku politely declined the tea and biscuits in favor of his bento box. Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Kan arrived shortly, and the meeting began. 

“Izuku. We are here to tell you what we believe to be the best course of action regarding Katsuki Bakugo’s punishment, and to receive your input regarding said punishment. Our punishment is plain and simple. Expulsion.”

“Mr. Aizawa, Mr. Kan, Principal Nezu. I do not think that would be a good idea. The reason Bakugo acted the way he did is because he carried a lot of resentment toward me. Expelling him would not get rid of this resentment, or help him deal with it in a healthy way. I think it might actually make things worse.”

Principal Nedzu lowered his tea and leaned forward.

“We understand that, Midoriya. But we also must consider the safety of our other students. Bakugo’s temper is incredibly volatile, and his quirk even more so.”

“I understand that as well, Principal Nezu. I think that instead, we should remove and ban the Grenadier Bracers, along with placing Katsuki in anger management here at UA.” 

Aizawa spoke up now. “Midoriya, if and that is a big if, Bakugo continues to attend UA, he will not be in Class 1-A. I refuse to teach him. Anyone with a temper like has no potential and does not deserve a slot at UA. 

“I’ll take him,” said Mr. Kan. “He’s powerful, and he could get a semi-fresh start in Class 1-B. I feel like he should use this experience to grow, and Midoriya is right. Expelling him will not allow him to learn from the experience, nor will it change his anger.”

“Well, I believe it is time for a vote. All who are in favor of Bakugo being expelled from UA, raise your hand.” Nezu looked around, and noticed only Mr. Aizawa’s hand was raised. Then he called for the opposite, and both Mr. Kan and Izuku’s hands went up. 

“It is decided. Katsuki Bakugo shall stay here at UA, but with some conditions. Firstly, his Grenadier Bracers will be dismantled, and any attempts to make a device similar to them will result in immediate expulsion after appropriate investigation. Secondly, he will be under strict behavioral probation. Thirdly, he will see a counselor, chosen from one either directly offered by UA or one from a recommended list. Finally, he will be placed in Class 1-B, with Kan Sekijiro as his homeroom teacher. Are there any questions? 

Izuku raised his hand. “Will someone be replacing Bakugo in Class 1-A?”

“Yes. As for who it will be, we will shortly deliberate upon. Izuku, if you would be so kind, please go enjoy lunch, as Mr. Aizawa, Mr. Kan and I have confidential matters to discuss. You are dismissed.”

With that, Izuku rose, Bowed to his homeroom teacher, Mr. Kan, and the principal, and left the room to visit Tokoyami and their favorite stairwell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next is filler


	7. Static Generation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filler! Next week, we begin the USJ!

In time, Izuku’s life attending UA had begun to take on a semblance of normalcy. He woke up, caught the train, and went to school. He attended class, and he did his best in the hero course. However, Katsuki was going to be attending today, and that meant that Class 1-A would be receiving their new student today. Izuku was excited, and a bit nervous, but mostly he wanted to see what kind of quirk they had. He walked into the now familiar classroom and sat down, content to wait for the bell to ring. 

When it did ring, and Mr. Aizawa rose from his caterpillar bag (as some members of Class 1-A have taken to calling it), the class heard a clip-clop noise, stopping right outside the door.

“Come in and introduce yourself.”

The door opened, and a short blonde girl with massive horns walked in. 

“Hello everybody! My name is Pony Tsunotori, and my Quirk is Horn Cannon! I’m excited to have class with you all!” 

As she finished speaking, she walked to her desk and sat down. Mina was visibly excited, mostly by the horns on the new girl’s head. 

Eraserhead told them that would be all for homeroom today, and that for the remainder of the class minutes it would be a simple study hall. Izuku decided to emulate his teacher, and took a nap. 

Ochako woke up the greenette just in time for their first class, and the pair walked to Ectoplasm’s math class together. 

As they walked, Izuku decided to be a class president, and rushed a bit to catch up to Pony. 

“Hello, Tsunotori. My name is Izuku Midoriya, and as the Class President of 1-A, I would like to formally welcome you to our class.”

She giggled. “It’s nice to be here. Thank you Mr. Class President.”

Izuku smiled. “Please, just call me Midoriya, or even Izuku if you like.”

“Alright, Midoriya it is then!”

Class then began, and the pair took their seats.

Izuku’s academics were exciting, mostly because he finally felt challenged at school. The naturally studious boy was thriving academically, and he loved it. However, his social life was still lacking, and now it was time for lunch, a social hermit crab’s biggest fear. Izuku had managed to find a nice spot to hide consistently, a stairwell. He shared this space with Tokoyami, and while the pair had some conversations Izuku might even call pleasant, they typically tended to leave the other in peace. 

Today would be different though. Today, Tokoyami asked Izuku a question. 

“Midoriya, why do you not eat with the others?”

“I don’t really know. I just feel like we’ll end up being friends, and I never know if it’s for my power or because they like me for me. Plus, friends are targets. Villains can hurt them, and i might not be able to protect them.”

Tokoyami sat silently. 

“I also get overstimulated easily, and the lunchroom is really really damn noisy.”

The lunch’s warning bell rang, and Izuku got up to use the restroom before Foundational Hero Studies.

“You know, we go to a hero school. Everyone here is going to be attacked by villains at some point. There’s nobody better who you could make friends with.”

Tokoyami was met with the sound of footsteps as Izuku walked toward the restroom. 

Fifteen minutes later, dressed in full hero regalia, Class 1-A made their way down to Gym Gamma for their class with All Might. Upon arrival, they were told of the exercise.

“Class! Today we will have 1-on-1 sparring matches with a twist! You will all be fighting without your quirks! However! Mutations will be allowed to be used, so long as you do not kill or permanently damage your opponents!”

Some members of the class, like Eijirou, Rikidou, and Mashirao especially, grinned. Their quirks were suited to melee combat, and they were used to close range fights like these. 

Most of the class however, shuddered. For them, the thoughts of potentially facing someone like Eijirou, Rikidou, Mashirao, or Midoriya was terrifying. Most had never learned to fight at closer ranges because they simply didn’t need to, and most of them depended more on their quirk close up. 

Knowing this, Denki spoke up. 

“Mr. All Might, isn’t that unfair to people who have more long ranged quirks and aren’t used to fighting at close ranges?”

“Yes! But a hero should be prepared for any situation! Look at our class president, for example. He has excellent capacity to fight at range, but also has demonstrated great capabilities in close range!”

Everyone turned to look at the blushing greenette, who avoided everyone’s gaze by looking at the ground. 

“Now, I have selected your matchups based on the skill you have demonstrated in class recently.”

All Might turned on a large monitor, and Izuku found himself facing Eijirou. The redhead beamed at him, and the pair shook hands respectfully. 

All Might called them to the circle Cementoss had drawn in the ground, and told the pair that he would step in if it got out of hand. 

Izuku took his position opposite Kirishima in the circle.

“BEGIN!”

Izuku and Eijirou looked at each other, assessing each other’s stances. Eijirou took a Muay Thai stance, leaving his stomach exposed in favor of massive kicks in exchange for weaker punches. His stance was perfectly suited to his quirk, since he could simply harden his body to absorb a blow and then counter with a knee or elbow. Izuku took a basic mixed martial arts stance, good for an all around style of fighting, allowing for plenty of mix-ups and variety in his moveset. 

Izuku inched forward, expecting a kick from Eijirou at any time. When the roundhouse finally came, the electrical boy grabbed it, pulled it toward him, and launched a brutal elbow into Eijirou’s chin.

“Why did he pull him forward like that?” said Denki. 

“Well, there are two reasons. One is because he wanted to get in range. The second is because he wanted to generate more force. By pulling, it allows him to add the power of the pull to the power of the elbow strike,” answered Mashirao

They pair were shushed by Momo, and they turned their attention to the fight once again. 

Izuku had managed to leverage Eijirou under him, and was currently performing ground and pound on the shark-toothed boy. Eijirou, to his credit, was blocking very well, and Izuku decided it was time to try for a submission hold. Grabbing Eijirou’s arm, he managed to leverage it away from the taller boy and wrap his legs around it, locking the redhead into an armbar. 

All Might called the match in Izuku’s favor, with a victory by submission.

The pair hopped to their feet, and offered a sportsmanlike handshake. Then they walked into the crowd, and All Might called the next pairing. 

“Shoji And Mina!”

Whispers ran through the class. Everyone was surprised that the eight-armed tank that was Mezo was being paired up with the slim pinkette. 

Then the match began and everyone regretted underestimating Mina. 

Shoji opened with a massive left hook, which Mina promptly dodged by falling into a crouch with one leg outstretched, then proceeded to slam the coiled leg into the quiet boy’s ribcage, and finishing by cartwheeling backwards into a standing position. 

While before, the fight had Izuku’s attention, it now held his interest as well. Izuku identified the attack as part of the Brazilian martial art Capoeira, and he wondered both where Mina learned such techniques, and how far her skill would take her against her opponent’s raw power. 

In the meanwhile, Mezo flinched from the blow, and Mina took advantage of this by cartwheeling into range and just after completing the move, slapping both of Mezo’s ears in unison. This left the boy reeling, and the pinkette dropped into a crouch with a single leg out. She then slid her outstretched leg behind her, hopped off of her crouched leg with her left arm supporting her, and launch a brutal roundhouse kick back into Shoji’s already damaged ribcage. 

With that, All Might ended the fight by decision, with a victory for Mina. Mezo had taken two massive kicks to the ribs, and his right ear was bleeding. 

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry I ruptured your eardrum, Shoji. I didn’t mean to slap that hard,” Mina apologized sheepishly.

Shoji morphed a mouth, and told her it was quite alright. Mina, however, volunteered to walk the boy down to Recovery Girl’s office, and the fights continued. 

Eventually, everyone was battered and bruised and tired. Some fights had been quick, like Ojiro versus Tenya, but for the most part, they had been long and slow. Izuku found himself pained by Denki’s terrible punching form, and his fight ended when he pulled his groin trying to perform a roundhouse kick against Pony. 

“Nice work everyone! On Wednesdays from now on, some of you will be working on hand to hand combat with your homeroom teacher and myself! Those who are capable will be expected to help teach your peers in any way you can! Class dismissed!


	8. A Shocking Development

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> USJ Time!

Izuku walked into homeroom on Friday quite early, and decided to do some weekend homework. When the bell rang, Mr. Aizawa sat up. “Anyone who takes longer than 20 minutes to grab your hero costumes, a change of clothes, and lunch can consider themselves not going on the field trip.”

They all left for the changing room, scrambling and excited as they were to find out what an entire school day’s worth of lessons were being put off for. 

As they made it to the bus, Izuku, as class rep, simply told everyone to get on and listen to the bus driver and Mr. Aizawa. 

The driver just told them to keep his bus clean, and Mr. Aizawa told them to keep it to a dull roar, and just like that, they were off. 

Izuku found himself seated alone, and he took advantage of it by studying some of his math homework, just to get ahead. 

“That’s our class president! Always studying.”

Izuku looked up and saw Denki and Hanta sitting opposite him, smiling. Izuku shot back a friendly smile, and returned to his work. 

“Midoriya, your Quirk is pretty similar to Kaminari’s. Are you two related somehow?” This time, it was the Frog Quirk user Tsuyu who had spoken, poking her head up from in front of Izuku.

“No, Asui. We’re just coincidentally similar. My Quirk is way, way more advanced than Kaminari’s, (“Hey!”) because I don’t just generate and dispense it, but I can control electricity to a limited degree, and sense electrical currents.”

“I understand. And please, call me Tsu.”

“Then call me Izuku.”

She nodded and disappeared back over the seat. 

Shortly, the bus came to a stop, and everyone walked out. Izuku was one of the first people off the bus, and he saw a massive, dome like structure. Not ones to be fazed by a massive piece of architecture, Izuku and Momo handed out everyone’s lunches, and got everyone into an organized mob. Mr. Aizawa introduced the Pro Hero Thirteen, which had Ochako and Izuku fangirling just a little. 

Thirteen spoke about how powerful his quirk was, but additionally how quickly he could injure or kill someone with it. Izuku, Shoto, and Fumikage all agreed, and Thirteen led them into the massive structure, which he introduced as the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ. Thirteen and Aizawa began to divide the class into groups and send them to the different zones, which all mimicked different disasters. The main exercise was finding one of their classmates in a zone, and managing to get them out of the zone without damaging them. Izuku was excellent at this, because his electrosense allowed him to find people very easily. 

After lunch, Mr. Aizawa allowed them time to relax and rest. Eventually, he told them it was time to go, and the class began to scale the massive stairs at the entrance of the USJ. Once they reached the top, a black portal began to open in the middle of the plaza, and a veritable horde of villains walked out. One caught Izuku’s eye. It terrified him. It reminded him of the demon he had been mauled by years earlier. To Izuku, it seemed like an Artificial Void. 

Everyone, including Thirteen, looked at Mr. Aizawa. He put on his goggles, and told Thirteen to protect the students. 

Through his terror, Izuku spoke.

“Iida, go get help. If they’re attacking, communications are probably blocked.”

“I will not leave you to-”

“That’s not a request. That’s an order as your class president. One student won’t make a difference, but a team of Pros will. Go. Now.”

Iida nodded, and he blasted out of the USJ, running as fast as his orange juice powered legs would carry him. 

Suddenly, the portal solidified into a vaguely humanoid shape, and it introduced itself as Kurogiri. Then, a pale boy with hands strapped all over him spoke. 

“I am Tomura Shigaraki. We are the League of Villains. We are here to kill All Might. Where is he?”

By this point, Aizawa had engaged the villains.

Tomura spoke again. “Well then. Let’s have some fun. Kurogiri, if you will.”

With that, Kurogiri spread the mist all over the class, and in an attempt to counter, Thirteen uncapped his fingers, and started trying to suck up the black mist. 

and split the class. 

Izuku ended up in what he managed to recognize as the Flood Zone, as he had landed in a lagoon. Izuku held his breath, and he felt a tightening rope around his waist. Suddenly he was being pulled through the water and thrown onto the boat. 

Tsuyu’s tongue retracted into her body, and Minoru was freaking out. Izuku took control.

“Step back from the edge of the boat, Mineta. I’ll take care of this.”

Minoru complied, and Izuku blasted a bolt of lightning into the lagoon. The entire thing lit up like a christmas tree, and the villains crawled out of the water. 

“Mineta, Tsu, can you guys restain the villains? I’m going to get help Mr. Aizawa.”

The pair nodded, and the three of them swam to the shore. Izuku ran to engage villains at the edge of the plaza, and Mr. Aizawa screamed at him to stay back.

However, a combination of martial arts and electrotherapy began to thin the villain’s ranks, and eventually, Izuku found himself fighting alongside Mr. Aizawa. 

Then, Tomura spoke. 

“This is getting boring. Nomu, bring them both to me.”

The beast grabbed Aizawa with one hand, and slammed him into the ground at Tomura’s feet. Izuku turned to see a large black toothy monster looming over him

no no not again no no no NO NO NO NO NONONONONONONONONO NOT AGAIN

Izuku conjured a cat’s cradle of electricity between his hands, and as the Nomu grabbed for him, he touched it to the monster. The Nomu blasted through the wall of the USJ, as the immensely powerful muscles contracted suddenly and shot it into the woods.

Everyone gaped at the Nomu shaped hole in the wall, and Tomura threw a tantrum as Izuku shot a lightning bolt at Kurogiri’s neck brace, stunning him momentarily. 

“That’s not fair! The Nomu has multiple quirks! It’s meant to beat All Might!”

Izuku dashed forward, leaned in close to Tomura’s, and whispered. 

“Life isn’t fair.”

A massive right straight shot into Tomura’s diaphragm, leaving him doubled over and gasping for air. 

Izuku left him no quarter, grabbing Tomura’s head and slamming it into his knee, breaking the villain’s nose and launching a left jab into his liver. Tomura recoiled, gasping and crying. To his credit, he still stood and fought, throwing a right palm strike. Izuku, however, was used to an open palm style of fighting, and flipped the Decay user over and soccer kicked him in the top of the head. 

“DO NOT WORRY, FOR I AM HERE!”

All Might busted into the USJ, only to see a an unconscious Aizawa, a crowd of villains all looking afraid, and Izuku, who had charged himself up and looked like he had just stared into the eyes of death itself. 

With the arrival of All Might, many villains in the various zones also decided to just stop fighting, as the number one hero was just too strong for any of them to take on, and they weren’t even sure that they could all take him together. Kurogiri warped him and Tomura out of the USJ, and just like that, the attack was over. 

The remaining members of Class 1-A stumbled toward the Number One Hero, and slowly, they began to capture the villains. 

When the other Pros and the Police showed up, the capture went much faster, and eventually, the villains, even Nomu, were restrained. After giving their statements, the class went home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to lose some motivation to keep writing this. Updates might get more sporadic after a few weeks, but I'll do my best to make sure that I both update often, and that those updates are quality content that I think are actually worth posting. Additionally, finals are coming up, and those are going to be massive time sinks for me. I do, however, intend to finish this fic, as I have plans for where I want it to go. I do not intend to leave this in limbo. Thanks again for sticking with me, and I hope you'll continue to offer support.


	9. Low Charge

Izuku was in a dome. It was dark, the kind that only comes with the quiet peace of the night. 

Peace, however, eluded Izuku Midoriya. He was fighting for his life, against the Nomu again. He thought he had moved past the nightmares that plagued him, the visions of a demon under a red moon. 

Izuku’s nightmare had taken a new form, the insidious Nomu. No matter how hard he fought, the beast was stronger. Suddenly, Nomu grabbed Izuku and slammed him into the ground.

He awoke in a cold sweat, and reached for the water he kept by his bedside. Izuku’s nightmares had been persisting for a week since the USJ, and he had begun to look more and more like his homeroom teacher. His green hair had lost its usual shine, and Izuku’s eyes, formerly bright and shining, were dull and darkened, weighed down by the eyebags underneath them. 

Izuku reached for his phone, and decided to indulge in a bit of late night reading. Before he knew it, the sun was up, and it was time for him to get out of bed and began his day. 

Mr. Aizawa had told them of the UA sports festival the day before, and Izuku was nervous, to say the least. He was excited to take another step further on the path to becoming a hero, but his lack of sleep was taxing, to say the least. 

Classes took longer to get through now, as Izuku’s lack of sleep, and by extension, fatigue took hold. He had been relying more on his EXS to get through Foundational Hero Studies, rather than his physical ability. 

At the very least, he didn’t have to see Katsuki very often. 

At the lunch bell, a crowd formed in front of the door. 

Denki whispered, “What’s going on?”

“They’re here to check out the competition for the Sports Festival,” Tenya answered. 

A student with wild purple hair stepped forward. “He’s right. General Education students like me have a chance to get noticed, and, just maybe get into the Hero Course.”

Izuku stepped forward. For all his exhaustion, he still understood the duties of a class president. 

“My name is Izuku Midoriya, and I am the class representative. On behalf of the class, I accept your challenge wholeheartedly.” He stuck his hand out as a friendly gesture. 

The purple haired boy shook Izuku’s hand with a grin. 

“I’ve heard about you! It’s nice to see you strong quirk users aren’t all the same. My name’s Hitoshi Shinsou. See you in the festival!”

With that, the crowd dispersed, and Class 1-A went to lunch.

Izuku sat under the stairwell, and Tokoyami shortly join him. 

“Izuku, have you been getting enough sleep?”

Izuku looked and the bird-headed boy quizzically, before answering.

“Thanks for asking, but I’m fine.”

“Midoriya, I like to think we’re friends. If something is bothering you, feel free to tell me. If you say you’re fine, then I won’t push it.”

“Thanks, Tokoyami.”

The pair finished eating, and returned to class. Tokoyami didn’t notice, but Izuku had a small smile on his face for the rest of lunch. 

Today was a day that was just meant to be a long, relaxing study hall after lunch to keep the students from straining themselves before the Sports Festival. It was basically a free period, and Izuku took advantage of it by trying to study. This was a futile effort, and Izuku eventually fell into a light sleep. This was a strange sight to the class. Izuku was one of the most hard-working students in the class, and to see him spend his time napping was rare, albeit not unheard of. 

Most of the students paid it no mind, except for Ochako. She had taken a liking to the Class Representative, and her worry for him had been growing with the bags under his eyes. 

After the bell rang, she woke him up. He shot up, and appeared apprehensive. 

“Oh, it’s just you Uraraka. Thanks for waking me up, I don’t want to miss my train.” 

“I’ll walk with you, Midoriya. I have a train to catch too!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short filler and set up for the Sports Festival, which will probably be uploaded later this week. Thanks for waiting.   
> Edit: Its going to be a massive chapter, way more than anything I've posted before. Finals week is almost over, so chapters should be going up more often.


	10. A Chance to Shock Freely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sports Festival Begins!

The dome again, the goddamn dome, Izuku was having another nightmare. 

Again, he was trapped with the Nomu, but now, he was not alone. The Void, that horrifying creature, was fighting alongside him. 

Somehow, some way, the Nomu and the Void each knew that the other was an unnatural, inhuman entity that shouldn’t exist. 

Izuku was just trying to stay out of the way, but was launching attacks at the Nomu, trying to cook it alive with lightning. 

Suddenly, the Void grabbed Nomu’s head, pulled it in, and decapitated the mutant with those horrid jaws. It continued to feast, and Izuku awoke. 

Yet again, he had awoken far too early to go to school, so he decided to browse the news. 

Hero Killer Strikes Again, the top article read. Izuku opened the story, and it said the same thing that a story with a similar title said yesterday. That Stain was targeting what he considered to be ‘false heroes.’ Izuku could understand. Katsuki wasn’t someone he thought should be a hero. His therapist, Doctor Nandaba, asked him to consider forgiving the explosive boy, but Izuku still found himself hating him. The doctor understood, but told Izuku if he ever wanted to forgive him, the greenette should. It probably would not be for a while, but one day, Izuku just might. 

After browsing some more, it got late enough that Izuku decided to just go to school. 

Once he arrived, he sat in his seat and took a nap, waiting for the bell to ring. Once everyone had filed in, Mr. Aizawa told them all to go to the locker rooms, and once they were all changed, to meet him back in the classroom. 

When everyone had returned, in gym clothes now, Mr. Aizawa led them to a waiting room in the stadium, and told them to keep it to a dull roar while they waited to be introduced. 

As the class excitedly sat in the room, one Shoto Todoroki approached Izuku.

“Midoriya, I think I’m stronger than you. I’m going to take first place without my father’s quirk.”

“You can’t beat me without the fire you take for granted.”

The class balked. Nobody had seen Izuku this confrontational. A bit cold, or perhaps brusque, but never outright confrontational. 

“You won’t reach your fullest without giving it your all”

The tension was palpable.

“WITH THOSE BORING PARTS OUT OF THE WAY, LEMME INTRODUCE OUR COMPETITORS! FIRST, CLASS 1-A! THEY’VE SURVIVED A VILLAIN ATTACK, LET’S SEE HOW THEY PERFORM HERE!”

Izuku led his class out onto the field, and they stood in lines, watching the other classes walk onto the field. 

“NOW, LET’S HAVE THE OPENING SPEECH FROM THE TOP SCORER OF THE ENTRANCE EXAM AND CLASS REPRESENTATIVE, IZUKU MIDORIYA!”

Izuku blanched. Nobody told him he was going to put on a speech. This would be going out to all of Japan, to the whole world! Despite his nerves, his legs carried him to the podium regardless, and he found himself in front of the microphone with a dry mouth and shaking legs. 

“He-hello-”

A massive wave of feedback swept over the crowd, and everyone flinched and covered their ears. 

When it ended, Izuku took a deep breath, and put a shaky smile on his face. 

“I-I-I won’t talk for t-too long. I’m e-excited to get on with the festival, just like everyone else here. Just know that I’m going to do my best, and everyone else here should the same.” With this, he glanced at Shoto. “That way, whoever’s standing on the podium at the end really feels like they deserve it!”

A cheer went up from the crowd, and Izuku returned to his spot. Midnight announced the obstacle course, and everyone grouped up at the entrance to prepare to run. 

As they all crashed into the tunnel, a crackling noise was heard as Todoroki froze them all in place and ran through. Some, like Katsuki, Mashirao, and Pony, leaped over and continued on. 

Izuku decided to shoot the ice with electricity, and was surprised to see it explode. 

It must be because my lightning superheats the ice and makes the resulting gas expand incredibly fast, Izuku thought as he ran past the robots from the entrance exam. 

He didn’t slow down as he ran into the shadow of the Zero Pointers, racing between their legs and onto the next obstacle. 

A balance course. Izuku took it slow and steady, not letting the sounds of quirk-fire getting closer distract him. Eventually, he made it to the end, and began to run to the final obstacle. 

A massive minefield stretched in front of him, and he could see Katsuki, Shoto, and Pony ahead, battling for first place. It was really more Katsuki and Shoto battling, and Pony trying to not eat an explosion or an ice wave. 

Izuku took a second to calm himself and looked for the mines with his electrosense. He began to run, draining the mines and recharging them, causing more than a few accidents to the people who wanted a free ride. 

The electromancer decided to get a bit unique, allowing the mines to explode under him in an attempt to propel him forward, and he finally began to gain ground. More importantly, he gained a clear shot at the frontrunners. 

Izuku let loose three shocks, not enough to kill or maim, but enough to set them off their respective rhythms. Katsuki went down first, landing face-first on the minefield. Shoto’s ice stream temporarily stopped, and he promptly slid off of it and also fell onto the minefield. Pony toppled off her horns, and landed so close to Katsuki that the explosive boy got a double dose of his own medicine. 

All this time, Izuku kept running, and as the trio recovered, he sprinted past, detonating mines in his wake with a smile on his face. 

The three recovered, and now the battle for first was renewed, now with four competitors. 

As they got closer and closer to the finish line, Izuku had an idea. As they reached the final line of mines, Izuku overcharged them just as he ran past, causing them to explode. This had the benefit of disorienting his opponents, and blasting him into a clear first place. 

He dashed back into the area, with Shoto finishing second, Katsuki finishing third, and Pony finishing fourth. Izuku collapsed to the ground, taking deep breaths the entire time. 

“NOW! WILL EVERYONE LOOK TO THE LEADERBOARD!” 

Izuku hauled himself to his feet, and following Present Mic’s command, saw himself in first place, and the word “seeker” next to it, while everyone else simply had “hider” next to their names. 

“THE NEXT EVENT WILL BE A GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK USING THE OBSTACLE COURSE AND THE SURROUNDING WOODS! THE HIDERS WILL BE GIVEN TEN MINUTES TO FIND PLACES TO HIDE, AND WHEN THAT TIME IS UP, THE SEEKER WILL BE RELEASED! QUIRK USAGE IS ALLOWED, SO LONG AS YOU DO NOT ATTACK THE OTHER CONTESTANTS!”

Hide and Seek means that it is very difficult for the Seeker to advance to the next round, Aizawa thought. Let’s see how Midoriya handles it.

The boy at the forefront of his teacher’s thoughts grinned. With his electrosense, finding people was incredible easy, and he was the seeker.

“YOUR TIMES BEGINS NOW!”

A massive rush of people ran out, but curiously, Mashirao stayed behind. 

After ten minutes, Present Mic Spoke again.

“SEEKER! GET SEEKING!”

Izuku ran out of the arena, and opened up his mind to the electrical impulses that ran through the world. Almost instantly, he felt a massive headache. But more importantly, he sensed three people hiding behind the doorway into the area, trying to be sneaky. Without even leaving the exit, he pointed at them. 

“You, you, and you. You’re out.”

With a good deal of groans, the three walked out from behind the doorway, and one of them had an odd Quirk, Flashlight Eyes. As he walked through the entrance back into the main arena, a fourth person popped out of the shadows in the tunnel. Izuku recognized him as a Class B student. He hung his head and walked back into the area as well. 

And so it went. Izuku moved through the grounds, and the contestants dropped like flies. Some were more difficult than others. Koji, for example, was only found because of the large concentration of birds in a certain clearing. Tsu was found at the balance course, crawling up and thanking Izuku for saving her from that damn purple haired midget, who was of course shortly found by the electrosensitive boy. And some people were found just standing in the middle of the course, waiting to be found. 

Izuku found people so quickly that the event was called to an early end. Enough contestants were left that the next stage of the tournament could begin, and Izuku had actually gotten himself a spot. 

The contestants were all told to go take a break, and Izuku decided to get a salad for lunch.

He ended up running into Mashirao. 

“Midoriya?”

“Yes, Ojiro?”

“A word of advice. That purple haired guy has a trick up his sleeve, but you can avoid it by not speaking. If you fight him, do not talk.”

“Thank you, Ojiro.”

“Anytime, Class Rep.”

As luck would have it, Izuku’s first opponent was the purple haired Hitoshi Shinsou. 

The pair stepped out onto the field on opposing sides. Midnight’s flog fell, and the fight began. 

Izuku was surprised to say the least. Hitoshi didn’t take a fighting stance, or even move. He seemed relaxed. 

“Are you just like them?”

Izuku looked at his opponent quizzically. 

“Are you someone who rides on their quirk, thinking it’ll take them to the top with no effort?”

The greenette bristled. 

“I really hate people like that.”

Izuku’s mouth opened, then closed. He called lightning to his hands, then dispelled it and took his stance. 

“Do you pity me so much that you want to fight without your quirk?”

“Shut up.”

A massive grin stretched across Hitoshi’s face, and Izuku felt all control drain from him. His heart rate increased. 

“Turn around and walk out.”

Izuku’s body, against his will, turned around and began to walk out. 

The electric boy tried to push down the rising fear in his throat, tried to keep calm. The last time he remembered feeling this lack of control over his body had been when the Void attacked him, so long ago. 

And it was here. The monster was here, it was standing in the entryway of the tunnel that Izuku had walked through, with its flowing hair and its glowing eyes and its gleaming teeth and those horrible hands-

Izuku let loose a massive bolt of electricity, indiscriminately shooting at everything. One just so happened to get very close to Hitoshi, but the voltage flowing through Izuku’s brain freed him of the purple haired boy’s quirk. 

Izuku, now in control, ran at Hitoshi, keeping his mouth closed this time. Hitoshi screamed at him to wait, but with his control over Izuku broken, he might have well have sneezed on the boy. 

Izuku reached Hitoshi, and wrapped his arms around the brainwasher. Izuku then proceeded to bend his back and slam Hitoshi into the ground with a suplex, breaking his nose. 

Izuku let go, and the pair both rolled over. The greenette then proceeded to straddle Hitoshi and pound him into the pavement. 

“You say you hate people who rely on quirks to take them to the top?”

A left elbow to the eyebrow.

“You’re just the same!”

A right hook to the cheek.

“You don’t take the time to train your body and become stronger!”

A hammer fist to Hisoshi’s already broken nose

“If you did, maybe you’d have made the Hero Course you raging hypocrite!”

A two handed overhead swing. 

Suddenly, a pink mist flooded the battlefield, and Izuku drifted off to dreamland. 

Medical robots carried him to the hospital tent, and a certain female hero accompanied him, a nameless knife in her palm. She left a hastily scribbled note in his pocket. 

He woke up in the hospital wing, paper crinkling, with Recovery Girl tsk-tsking at him. 

“You really did a number on Shinsou. His nose is broken in two places, and he’s got a mild concussion.” She sighed deeply. “You won your match against him by technical knockout. Get back out there. You’re up soon.”

Izuku thanked the elderly doctor, and as he exited the tent, he reached into his pocket and found the note. 

Come and learn, little In-Birth. Come and learn what you can truly become. Find the Speed Hero. 

 

Izuku froze, and his eyes widened. He thought about returning to the tent to ask Recovery Girl about who left the note. But then he realized that it might cause more questions than answers. 

He was mostly curious about who the Speed Hero was. He knew of plenty of fast heroes, with the Ingenium line at the top of the list, but they were the Turbo Heroes. He didn’t know anyone called the Speed Hero. 

He had to find who it was. His best hope was to do well enough in the tournament to receive an internship offer from this mysterious hero. 

In the hallway, Endeavor looked for his son’s next opponent. 

“Are you Izuku Midoriya?”

“Endeavor? Yes, that’s me. What can I help you with?”

“You’re Shoto’s next opponent. Get him to use his left side, and you’ll get an internship offer from me.”

The man began to walk away, but Izuku called out

“Why won’t he use his left side?”

“It is simply a petty grudge against me. And because of it, he won’t realize his true potential as my perfect creation.”

“He’s not your creation. He’s a person. I’m going to try to get him to use his left, not because you asked, but because I hate how he wastes what he has.”

“Are you disrespecting me, boy?”

“I’m not afraid of you. I’ve seen monsters, Endeavor, monsters that are not natural. If you’ll excuse me, I have a match to prepare for.”

Izuku stalked off, his hatred of his classmate lessened. He could understand wanting to spite Endeavor. Katsuki’s fight had just ended, and Izuku hoped he hadn’t hurt Ochako too badly. She was nice. 

“NEXT UP! THE BRUTAL PUGILIST WHO BEAT HIS LAST OPPONENT BY TKO! IZUKU MIDORIYA!”

The greenette stepped onto the field to a raucous crowd with a hard line drawn across his face. 

HIS OPPONENT? THE HALF COLD, HALF HOT USER WHO MADE A SMALL GLACIER IN HIS LAST MATCH! SHOTO TODOROKI!

Shoto stepped out now, to almost as much cheering and applause, his face decidedly neutral.

“Begin!”

“Todoroki!”

A quiet, tense calm swept over the arena, anxiously waiting for Izuku’s next words. 

“Until you use your fire, I won’t punch or elbow. I won’t even use my arms to balance my kicks.” 

Izuku’s hands were shoved into his pockets, and almost instantaneously, Todoroki began his attempted glaciation of Izuku.

Which Izuku promptly blasted apart with lightning, sending a combination of icy shards and fine mist over the crowd. 

Izuku took a few steps forward, then stopped. 

“You can’t win without fire. I’ll just shatter your ice until you either freeze yourself or decide to thaw.”

This time, Shoto shuffled back a bit and sent a flat shelf of ice at Izuku’s feet, but again, he simply blew it to pieces and took a few steps forward. 

It continued in this way, with Shotoi shooting ice and stepping backwards, only for Izuku to break it and continue forward until he was standing in front of Todoroki, who at this point was shivering and barely standing. 

“Use your fire, Todoroki.”

“I swore I’d reject my father. What do you know of my suffering?”

“Nothing. But I know the pain of not having my father, and the pain of having my dreams crushed because I don’t have a quirk.”

At that, Shoto’s eyes widened. 

“There are people who would give both arms for what you were born with.”

By now, Izuku was so close Shoto could smell his breath.

“Never forget that, Todoroki.”

A single kick was all it took to knock the freezing boy out of the arena. 

“WE HAVE A WINNER! AFTER AN AMAZING WAR OF ATTRITION, IZUKU MIDORIYA IS LEFT STANDING!”

Izuku raised his fist in victory as he walked off stage, and began his preparation for his next fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short upload last time. This one's super long, so I hope it makes up for that. 
> 
> Next week: Our thrilling conclusion to the Sports Festival!


	11. Measuring Output

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The finale of the Sports Festival, and the return of Katsuki.

The tournament was halfway over, and Izuku had brutalized both of his opponents pretty badly. Hitoshi had been mostly healed by Recovery Girl’s quirk, and was currently sleeping it off. Shoto, on the other hand, had gotten mild internal frostbite, and even though he had been treated quickly, he would still have to take it easy on the glaciation for a few weeks. 

Izuku was in turmoil over it, and he had a massive feeling of regret gnawing away at him. He wanted to become a hero, not a glorified thug. 

Izuku walked out onto the area once again, this time fighting Tenya, someone who he bore no ill will toward. Tenya was strong, there was no doubt, but Izuku was confident. Plus, this would be a chance to change his image from the merciless brawler he had begun to paint himself has. 

Yet again, Midnight called the match start, and Izuku spoke up.

“Iida! May the best man win!”

“Agreed, Midoriya!”

The boys charged each other, and Tenya opened by swinging his leg in a massive roundhouse kick, which Izuku promptly ducked under and grabbed the engine user’s leg, pulling them both to the ground with the taller boy on top. Izuku took the opportunity to attempt a triangle choke, preventing his classmate from standing. Tenya, for all his speed, did not know how to break the hold and eventually tapped out. 

“IN A STARK CONTRAST TO HIS OTHER FIGHTS, MIDORIYA FINISHES THIS ONE QUICKLY AND PAINLESSLY! HE IS MOVING ON TO FIGHT KATSUKI BAKUGOU IN THE FINALS! WE WILL BE HAVING A TEN MINUTE BREAK FOR OUR CONTESTANTS!”

Izuku headed off stage, and decided to sit in the preparation room during the break. 

Meanwhile, in the class boxes, Neito Monoma hopped over the partition

“Looks like its Class 1-B versus Class 1-A in the Finals! Bakugou is really strong, way stronger than Midoriya! Looks like this is gonna be - hrk!”

His line of speech was quickly cut off by a redhead’s chop to his neck. 

“Sorry about that everyone!”

Class 1-A was speechless. More importantly, they wondered if anyone had told Neito that Katsuki had already lost to Izuku, and Izuku had been badly injured at the time. 

With his current level of physical health, most of Class 1-A figured Izuku was bound to beat Katsuki. 

“ALRIGHT! CONTESTANTS, TO THE FIELD! 

The greenette walked out onto the now familiar battleground, remade by Cementoss after Katsuki had blown it to bits in the last match. On the opposite side was Katsuki himself, looking confident, but...nervous? Izuku was mildly surprised by that. As long as Izuku had known him, which was a long time, Katuski had never looked nervous. 

“.... And Start!”

The flog fell, and Katsuki rocketed at his opponent. Izuku decided to take the aggressive, risky option, and as the right hook flew from Katsuki, Izuku dodged to the left and threw a cross-counter to the jaw. 

Almost instantly, the blonde crumpled to the floor, and Izuku turned and walked away. 

Suddenly, he heard footsteps and felt a massive punch to the back of the head, thrown by Katsuki. 

Izuku got up and turned around to face his childhood rival. 

“Why do you keep looking down on me!”

“I never looked down on you. You were always someone I wanted to be like. You had a strong Quirk, and the drive to be a hero!” 

Izuku took his combat stance. 

“I always looked up to you in Elementary school! I only fought you in Middle School because I couldn’t stand by and let you hurt others!”

“Then fight me with your Quirk! Don’t hold back!”

Katsuki decided to mix it up this time, and went for a left hook. Izuku dodged into it, and took an explosion to the face. The electrical boy countered by blasting Katsuki with electricity, throwing him back. Izuku immediately followed up, running after him and throwing his leg out in a brutal kick, which the blonde managed to dodge by rolling away. They both reset to neutral positions, and Izuku advanced. 

Izuku couldn’t just force his opponent into a submission hold, because Katsuki would just burn him, and he couldn’t shock the taller boy into oblivion without potentially damaging his brain or heart. Izuku had to knock him out, and he had spoken to his MMA teacher about learning a few techniques to help him. Izuku’s teacher had taught him how to cross counter, and a taekwondo kick called the Hwechook. It was a spinning kick, and it had a variation called the Third Stance Hwechook, which was just three Hwechooks performed quickly. Izuku had trouble with the technique, but he decided to risk it. 

He dashed forward, and began his first kick. It had been performed perfectly. Katsuki didn’t see it coming, because his eye had swollen shut from the cross-counter earlier. The second kick began as the blonde was still reeling, another perfect kick to the head, and now it got tricky. The final kick was to the back of the opponent’s head, and Izuku was not in the best position to do so. He stepped onto the leg that performed the kick, retained his momentum, and slammed his other leg into the back of Katsuki’s head. It was shaky, but it still struck home. 

However, even with the attacks, Katsuki still had a bit of fight left in him. 

“I said to fight me with your Quirk!”

He took to the sky and began to spin rapidly in the air, generating a smoky cocoon around him. 

Izuku’s eyes widened. He knew that technique. It had been used on him once before, and his bones still hurt from the massive explosion it generated. 

Howitzer Impact was a move that used smoky, controlled explosions to compress the oxygen around Katsuki, that he would then ignite into a massive explosion. Compressed oxygen was incredibly flammable, and the resulting explosion is massive.

Izuku knew the only way to stop it. It could really damage Katsuki, but if he didn’t he would be hurt just as badly. 

Izuku raised his hand, and shot a thin strand of electricity directly at the ball of smoke floating in the sky. A massive fireball shook the sky, and Katsuki dropped like a rock. Izuku ran toward him, and actually managed to keep him from hitting the hard concrete. 

Midnight called the fight, and Izuku helped load Katsuki onto a stretcher carried by robots, bound for Recovery Girl. 

After a short respite, Izuku took to the awards podium. All Might gave him and Tokoyami their medals. But it all felt hollow. Izuku couldn’t get his mind off of the space next to him that should have been filled by his former best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. I'm really ready to start pumping out new chapters now.


	12. Insulation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku's hero name is revealed!

“Hey! Aren’t you that kid who won the Sports Festival?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Good job kid! Can I get an autograph? My little one’s a huge fan, cause they’ve got an electrical quirk too!”

“Sure.”

Izuku signed the man’s paper with his pen, and sighed internally. 

His life had changed a lot after the Festival. On the train, he normally ran into someone who recognized him and wanted to congratulate him at least once a day. Izuku didn’t have an issue with it, it was important to cultivate an image after all. But he wouldn’t mind becoming just a regular face in the crowd again. 

Izuku finally made it to his stop and got off. He stretched his legs, and began his walk to UA. 

As he finally made it to class and walked in, he sat down and noticed an envelope on his desk. He opened it up. 

_Izuku,_  
_Don’t feel bad about the Sports Festival. I understand why you did what you did, and I don’t hold any hard feelings about anything anymore. I have burns over a lot of my body, but considering everything that’s happened, let’s call it even. Recovery Girl’s gonna help patch me up. I don’t blame you if you don’t want to talk to me. Just know that I’m sorry, and if you ever need anything, anything at all, let me know._  
_Best,_ _Katsuki Bakugou._

Izuku’s guilt over the Sports Festival was slightly assuaged, but he still felt bad. He didn’t know if he could forgive Katsuki, and decided to do the healthiest thing and swallow it down to be dealt with at a later date. 

Homeroom started, and Mr. Aizawa spoke up. 

“Your work experiences are coming up soon.”

On the wall, a bar graph of names and numbers appeared. 

At the top was Izuku Midoriya, with 3012 offers!

The next person, Shoto, got less than half that, at 1482! 

After that, there was a bit of a drop down to Fumikage’s 471. 

“Typically, there tends to be a bit more of a spread, but Class 1-B’s Katsuki also got a lot of offers. Make sure to choose wisely, because picking the right hero could mean employment with them later, or learning important skills that can shape your hero career. There are Third-years that still regret their choices first year. Because of this, today you will be all selecting your Hero Names, and to help -” Midnight walked in, and Minooru began to drift off. Izuku flicked him in the head. “Is Midnight. Have fun kids. Don’t wake me.”

Midnight began to pass out cards and markers. Eventually, everyone gave their names. Some were pretty cool, like Eijirou’s choice of Red Riot. Others were a bit pretentious, like Tsukuyomi. Some, like Pony, Tenya, and Shoto, simply chose their name. Izuku was a bit surprised that Tenya didn’t take his family name of Ingenium. 

Then it was Izuku’s turn. He had given it a lot of thought, and decided on something a bit unconventional. 

When he flipped the sign around, Midnight read it aloud. 

“The Lightning Hero: Argonaut. It’s unique, but I must ask why you named yourself after a shellfish, Midoriya.”

“An Argonaut can also be a person going on a quest, and I’m going on a quest to become number one. Plus, a couple of children of Zeus sailed on the Argo.”

“That's very creative, Midoriya. Tentatively, approved. But if you want to change it, send me an email or come see me in my office.”

With that, homeroom ended, and the day continued. 

Izuku finally arrived home to an email containing a list of all the heros who had sent him an internship offer, in order of ranks. Of course, the top ranking were all of the top ten heros, short of Miruko, Endeavor, and All Might. These didn’t come as a surprise to him, but instead of clicking on their attached files, he immediately scrolled down to the bottom and pressed Control + F to search for the Speed Hero.

Only one result came up, for a female hero named Starunner that looked to be about forty years old, and was based in Hosu. She wasn’t ranked very high, but looked quite foreign. If it wasn’t for the mysterious note, Izuku probably would not have even noticed, and instead picked someone like Gang Orca. Her Quirk allowed her enhanced speed, but not on par with a member of the Ingenium line. 

Izuku immediately selected her as his choice, emailed it in, and just decided to do his homework. 

The next week, he found himself on a train next to Tenya, on their way to Hosu City and their internships. Tenya had decided to intern with Manual. Izuku had noticed his demeanor had darkened considerably over the past week, most likely because of the attack on his older brother, the current Ingenium. Izuku felt a bit bad for not mentioning it earlier during the Sports Festival, but Tenya had insisted it was fine. Izuku just hoped the taller boy wouldn’t make any poor decisions. 

They arrived at the platform, and went their separate ways to find their internships. Izuku eventually came to a dumpy looking foreign food place with an Open sign in the window, and saw his hero of choice, Starunner, working the counter. 

As he walked in, she called out. 

“Come in, little In-Birth, and have a seat. You have much to learn, and I have much to teach.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lackluster chapter. But, important news. This fic will be going to a a once every two weeks upload, because I've got lots of time but little motivation. To help combat said lack of motivation, every week this isn't updated, I'll be updating a new MHA project I'm working on. It's going to be really experimental, and (hopefully) deviate from canon a lot more than this. Thanks again for the support everyone!


	13. Rewiring

“Sit down, In-Birth, and I’ll teach you what you need to know,” Starunner said, sitting down with a steaming plate of long, thin, starchy strips and what looked like ketchup. 

“These are an American dish called french fries, and I think you know what ketchup is.”

Izuku tentatively took a bite, and it was surprisingly good. They were crisp and crunchy, and just salty enough to be delicious. The ketchup was cool, and it gave a nice contrast to the fries. 

“Thank you, Starunner. How do you know I’m an In-Birth? What are Voids? Who made the Hollow Night? How many In-Births are there?”

“Please, call me Linne. I’ll answer all of those questions in time. But for now, I’ll answer the first one. You’re a beacon of EXS, just like every other In-Birth.”

“Can you teach me to sense EXS?”

“I’ll teach you that, and a lot of other things. First, it’s pronounced Exist, not E-X-S. Second, I want to train said EXS. You’ve got raw power, but little control. Come with me. I have an exercise that I think will be helpful to you.” 

She led Izuku through a spotless but small kitchen, and into an alleyway behind the restaurant. 

“Here, we can practice without worrying who sees. You can shoot electricity, right?”

“Yup”

“What about controlling and shaping it?”

“I can kinda do that, but I need a lot of space.”

“Let’s practice that, then. Shoot a blast at the wall, but don’t let it connect.”

Izuku raised a hand, and shot a bolt of lightning at the brick wall. It blasted against the surface, leaving a small scorch mark. 

“Ok. Don’t bother coming inside until you get it right.”

Izuku balked. 

The first thing he decided to do was think through the way he shot his bolts. In preparation, he would create a well of electricity at whatever he wanted to shoot at, then add enough voltage to create a lightning bolt between him and the charged point. However, to shape its form and to keep the electricity from going every which way, he had to control how fast it came out and keep it in his hand. He could do that. But he couldn’t shoot it and stop it while it was in midair. 

Hours later, well into the afternoon by this point, he had made little progress. 

However, it was something, and Linne, decided to let him inside. It was getting dark, and there were other things she wanted to teach him, things that would be more well suited to well lit indoor lessons.

She opened the door. 

“Nice work. We’ll do more tomorrow.”

She led him to a plate of miso soup, and showed him his cot. 

“Now, come upstairs. I have something to show you.”

Izuku walked into the top floor of the restaurant and Linne pointed at a short table, as she walked into another room adjacent to the one Izuku was in. 

The next thing Izuku knew, his hands were pinned to the table by two blue daggers, and the world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you all the next time this updates. In two weeks >:D


	14. Changing Currents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted the wrong chapter by mistake. As a TW, Izuku is filled with self doubt at the beginning of the chapter and it almost goes sideways, so start at the italics if you want to skip that part.

_The world doesn’t need you, Izuku. You hurt others, you should just disappear. Nobody would miss you._

_That’s not true!_

_Is it? Look deep inside and ask yourself if someone loves you._

_All your friends hate you, especially after the Sports Festival. You’re so cruel to them. Why would they want to be around someone so violent?_

_I don’t know._

_You should just give up. Give in to the Void._

_I don’t want to._

_Why not, you walking disappointment?_

_Because if I do, I’ll never become like All Might._

_Do you really think that anyone will look up to you the way they look up to him?_

_Not today. But I won’t know if I give up. So I won’t give up. Not today._

Izuku’s head shot up, eyes wide open and hands still stuck, to see Linne sitting opposite him, sipping a cup of tea. 

“W-w-what happened? My head feels like its gonna explode.”

Linne put down her tea, and looked at Izuku with a grim smile plastered on her face. 

“You survived.”

She got up, and pulled the two blue blades out of his hands. 

“These weapons are called the Eliminators. They can create In-Births, or allow them to become Re-Births, which are far more powerful. Now, you’re a Re-Birth, and I owe you a lot of explanation. Before I get started, would you like some tea?”

Izuku nodded gratefully, and Linne placed a steaming cup down in front of him, and began to bandage his hands. 

“I’ll start at the beginning. A long time ago, there was a group of In-Births called the Night Blade, and they did some experiments on me and my older brother, Kuon. We became immortal because of them, but in different ways. Kuon keeps his body forever, but every time I die, I get a new body and destroy a soul. I continued this cursed existence for a long time, looking for the Eliminator’s brother, the Insulator alongside my friend Waldstein. Eventually, I found it around the same time Quirk started to become more commonplace. The boy who used it was Quirkless, and he was named Hyde. For the first time in a long time, I was content. Together, Hyde, Waldstein and I fought together, defeating other In-Births and protecting the people. We caught wind of a villain unlike any other, one with the power to take Quirks”.

At this, Izuku blanched. He had never heard of a villain that could take Quirks. 

“We decided to stop him, and we gathered allies to defeat him, both Quirked and In-Birth. He slaughtered us all, and after that, nobody could oppose him. He ran Japan from the shadows for years. I lived, but ended up in a new body far away. This body had a weak future sight quirk, and over the course of that lifetime I saw that there would be an In-Birth that would rise to defeat him.”

“Why me?”

Linne looked at him in curiosity.

“Why pick someone who’s just going to hurt people? Why not you? Why choose a Quirkless wannabe? Why pick a disappointment like me?”

“I’ll be honest. Because I’m getting desperate. He’s making moves, doing things that suggest he’s going to try to return to power. The last time he tried, All Might stopped him. But he’s weaker now, and we’re almost out of time. He must be stopped. If I tried, I might die, and then there would be nobody left, just like last time.”

A spasm rocked Izuku’s head, and he screamed in pain, clutching his head with his bandaged hands.

“What’s wrong, Izuku?”

“I-I-IT HURTS!” 

“What hurts?”

“MY HEAD! IT FEELS LIKE I’M GOING TO OVERFLOW!”

He crouched to the ground, and when he looked at Linne with tears in his eyes, two horns protruding from his head. He reached up and grabbed them through bloody cloth, and pulled as hard as he could. 

Two swords, one red and one blue, were drawn from the boy’s forehead, and Linne looked between the table and his hands, jaw dropped in astonishment. 

“Those weapons are the Eliminator and the Insulator.”

She took his hands in hers.

“We’re starting training tomorrow. Those weapons aren’t to be taken lightly. Now, some sleep.”

Izuku nodded woozily, then crawled downstairs and into his cot for some much needed rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the shorter upload, but this one's probably one of the most important story wise. See you all next time, and thanks for the support!


	15. New Circuit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The right chapter this time! Sorry for the wait.

Izuku woke up the next morning and almost instantly felt overstimulated. He could see every electrical current in the building, and the air felt heavier. His head didn’t hurt, but he was beginning to feel a bit nauseous, so he willed himself to only see through his eyes. After a second or so, his electrosense faded. Izuku, still feeling like he was walking through water, brushed his teeth, and was promptly assaulted by Linne when he walked into her living room.

She slammed into Izuku’s back with both her feet, and he stumbled forward, recovered his balance, and took a fighting stance. 

“If you can hit me once, you get breakfast. If I hit you a hundred times, we train until lunch.”

Izuku grimaced, and as LInne began her assault, Izuku still felt like he was walking and standing in water. Izuku then chose to slice his hand through the air, and to his surprise, the air formed a blade and slashed towards Linne. It wasn’t quite fast enough, but Izuku kept trying without much progress. Frustrated, he decided to take a tactic similar to the one he used against the Nomu at the USJ. He summoned lightning to his fingertips, making glowing strands of power flow between them. By the time they were ready, Linne had already punched him in the back, chest, stomach, and legs. She kept attacking, moving quickly, and Izuku couldn’t hit her with his lightning. 

What if I put my lightning all over my body instead of just my hands? 

Slowly, very slowly, Izuku let the electricity to flow to his chest, then his legs, then his back, and finally, his head.

Linne stopped just before she landed the final hit. 

“Nice work, Izuku. If I hit you I’d throw myself across the room.”

She walked into the kitchen. 

“Now, come make breakfast.”

Izuku, sore and bruised, decided to make some white rice with an egg on it. Linne sat down and turned on the news. 

_“The Hero Killer Stain was spotted in Hosu City again last night. If you see him, do not engage. He has an unknown quirk and is armed and extremely dangerous. We’ve brought in a specialist to speculate on what his quirk could be. Miss Samejima, what are your thoughts on his Quirk?”_

_“I believe it’s a kind of binding or restraining Quirk. All of the kills attributed to him are stabbings or slashings, which suggest a lack of an offensive Quirk, and his recent crippling of the hero Ingenium suggest he is capable of preventing his target from simply running.” ___

__“What do you think the Hero Killer’s quirk is, Izuku?”_ _

__“Hm? Oh, I agree with Miss Samejima.”_ _

__“Why?”_ _

__“Well, if the Hero Killer can beat someone as quick as Ingenium, he has to be able to stop them from just running, right?”_ _

__“That’s true. Say, Izuku, what do you call your EXS?”_ _

__He gave her breakfast, and the pain began to eat._ _

__“I have it registered as a Quirk, so I guess I just call it Electromancy. What do you call yours?”_ _

__“I’ve got mine registered as a Quirk too, it’s just called Speed. But the official name is EXS of Agility: Speed Star.”_ _

__“Should I name mine like that?”_ _

__“You can if you like.”_ _

__“Then how about EXS of Electricity: Electromancy?”_ _

__“That works. Come with me upstairs. I need to teach you how to use those swords.”_ _

__Linne stood up put her plate in the sink, and walked upstairs.Izuku followed her._ _

__“Linne?”_ _

__“Hm?”_ _

__“What were those air attacks that I kept using? Before i could only use electricity.”_ _

__“I turned you into a Re-Birth with the Eliminators, and because of it, you have much more power. You have control over air now, apparently, and can summon both of those weapons. I think you’ve already got some experience with swords, or else they wouldn’t be swords, they’d be something else. So, I mostly want to get a bearing on your abilities, and train your apparent caelikinesis. Now, draw your swords and fight me.”_ _

__Izuku nodded, and remembered what it felt to summon his swords, and two horns appeared on his head. He grabbed them, and pulled as hard as he could, feeling as if his head would split open. He drew the blue and red raipiers out of his head with great effort._ _

__“Linne, what stance should I take?”_ _

__“Take a fencer’s stance, and raise your other arm with your sword like a scorpion’s tail toward me.”_ _

__Linne walked to the corner of her room and pulled a long, straight blade with an extra wide tip._ _

__“Attack me, but no EXS this fight.”_ _

__Izuku immediately went on the offensive, with a flurry of thrusts, and Linne dodged to the left and swung hard, using her momentum to gather more force behind the blow. Izuku, in response, blocked with both of his sword being held horizontally, and Linne backed off._ _

__“You’re capable. I want to train you more, but I think your caelikinesis takes priority, at least for now.”_ _

__Linne lead Izuku behind the store yet again._ _

__“Izuku, can you make another blade of wind for me?”_ _

__He nodded, and slashed. The attack dissipated as it hit the shop wall._ _

__“That’s all I need to know for today. I’m going to go patrolling. I’ll be back by dinner. Make yourself lunch, and get some better control on your caelikinesis. I’m satisfied with the progress on your electromancy for now, so just focus on air for now.”_ _

__Izuku nodded, Linne went back upstairs to change into her hero costume, and the green haired boy began to work on his fine control yet again._ _

__The day passed, and Izuku learned how to control the air with gentle motions. A push of the palm, a wave of the fingers. But his attacks were always lacking. By the time dinner came, all he could do was make wind in different shapes._ _

__Linne had watched for a little while from the shop window, and she noticed something in Izuku’s movements. He seemed to be in a rush, and this prevented him from truly concentrating._ _

__“Izuku, why are you in such a hurry? If you put a bit more focus into your attacks, I’m sure that your attacks could become much stronger.”_ _

__“I want to protect the people I care about, and if this All for One guy is really coming back, then I have to be prepared.”_ _

__“Who do you want to protect?”_ _

__“My classmates, my mom, and Uraraka.”_ _

__“Do you like her?”_ _

__“Of course I like her. She’s been a great friend to me.”_ _

__Linne facepalmed internally. She couldn’t believe this kid was so dense._ _

__“Izuku, tomorrow, just try to focus on the moment when you make your attacks. Now, get some rest. Nobody can keep going forever, and your body needs time to rest._ _

__The boy in question nodded, and gratefully sat on his cot content to play some games on his phone until he fell asleep._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive feedback is appreciated. This is my first fic, so please don't be too hard on me. I'll update about once a week or so. It gets better later on, I promise


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